Tales of Santa Carla, Book 1: Investigation
by literalylit
Summary: Dwayne and the brotherhood are challenged when twins, Effie and Lottie move to Santa Carla. Old battles are resurfaced in the fight to keep their secret from being exposed. While Lottie embarks upon a relationship with Sam, Effie is trapped between Edgar and her interest in Mike and Dwayne. With Max on their case, sorrow will become their existence. BOOK 2 NOW IN PROGRESS!
1. Chapter 1: Across the ocean

**_REWIEWS WANTED! This is the first book in a series dedicated to the lost boys. It is lengthy as I have a lot of ideas and plans for this story, plans that will stretch outside of Santa Carla concerning all of the characters involved. _**

**_I promise you that any fan of the film will enjoy this series if they give it a chance and stick with it, the more you read the better it gets!_**

 ** _Feel free to PM with any questions, leave a review or simply follow/fave the story if you want more. I update almost everyday!_**

 ** _Get a cup of tea or coffee and some snacks because you're in for a quirky ride!_**

 ** _Welcome to the world across the ocean..._**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1: Across the Ocean**_

 **ENGLAND 1975**

No two un-identical twins have ever been so curious as Effie and Lottie. Their similarities were few and far between with their differences taking place on a whole new level of existence. Yet their bond was that created not in reality but in a different space where promises are soldered together; no matter how far they may roam from each other in life. Despite the trials they faced growing up, they faced it together. With only 28 seconds separating them in time and age, with Effie being the eldest, that was all that they would ever think could separate them.

They came from a curious little village in England, with nothing around them but wild and tumbling hills, with horses and spacious green land. Their home was small but their sense of adventure was big, as were their problems growing up. In a secluded cottage with no neighbours and few friends, they learnt to cope. They created stories and plays, fantasies that they would bring to life in their own room, tales of creatures in the night and dark figures at the window, dark figures with wings that would fly up to the stars and plummet back down to earth again. These fantasies offered escape from a dreary and desolate home life. Their mother, Tracey, try as she might, could never get away from their father. A truly deceitful and angry man who was scarcely around. She, too, would escape with stories, such as Bram Stoker's Dracula. It was this particular story that Effie found one day laying around under her mother's bedside table. She immediately brought the strange book to Lottie and so begun the fairy stories of their life. However, this tale would never be enough to account for their fathers abusive and cruel behaviour of their mother. They would crawl in bed together late at night, holding their little hands intertwined under the sheets. Effie would attempt to calm her sister with their stories.

"Lottie, the man with dark wings and sharp teeth who comes to the window at night will protect us."

Lottie didn't believe such a dark figure was good and that it would have benevolent intentions.

"Dark men with wings hurt people, Effie, not save them." Lottie said shaking. "I don't want to talk about that story."

Effie giggled, "What about the man in Mummy's book? Count Dracula? He tried to protect Mina?"

"That isn't the same. shut up. Dad is angry again." Lottie said starting to cry. Effie held her sister tighter.

"I don't understand why Mummy doesn't just run away from Dad." Effie said quietly. Effie was a very forward thinking child with a critical mind and keen sense of judgement, Effie's world was black and white, one or the other. Her younger twin did not seem to see the world the same.

"Because Mummy needs Dad. She doesn't go to work like Dad does." Lottie said to her blunt sister. Lottie was a child with a keen sense of sympathy. Her world was always made brighter with a happy perspective. She was quick to make peace and even more eager to see it maintained or her sensitive nature would be compromised.

"I think that if Mummy is really that unhappy she should run away no matter what. Maybe one day she will, Lottie." Effie said with hope.

 **SANTA CARLA 1985**

An old, rusting sedan made it's way across the winding, rocky cliffs by the sea. The breeze and warmth was so far away from the dewy and quaint cottage that was once their home; it felt like a whole big adventure. Effie and Lottie sat in the back seat of the sedan in a world of their own whilst their mum sung oldies on the radio. Tracey was still new to the whole driving thing as she only got her licence a couple of months back. The sun was set high in the sky casting bright rays through the window of the car onto Effie's face. Her blue eyes were squinting against the curiosities around her, the town was fast approaching. Her face screwed with disdain for the heat and the new environment. Lottie was just as curious about Santa Carla but not so bitter towards the idea of their mother moving them away from England, as she understood her mother's reasons. Little could be said about understanding in the case of Effie.

"What do you think, girls? Doesn't that ocean just look beautiful! Look at the way it glitters underneath that sun. We didn't have that back at home did we?" Tracey said looking into the interior mirror of the car at her girls, hoping they would brighten up to the new prospects ahead of them. She saw Effie's eyes squint.

"It really is something," Effie huffed. Tracey sighed.

"Please drop this now, Elizabeth. Nothing can change, you know that. I needed to be away from that dreadful place and you know that we had nothing else in England. It was my dream to come here!" Tracey said with a little spirit left in her.

"A dream that we need to pay the price for," Effie blurted, "You could have at least included us on this decision, don't you think?"

Lottie shook her head knowing this was going to be another argument that she could not help. For months her sister and mum had been at odds over the move to America. However, she did feel a little left behind, as Effie did, in the decision to move so far away from what they knew.

"I know it's a big step, Elizabeth, but you haven't even given it a chance. It's beautiful out here and you love the beach. Charlotte doesn't enjoy the beach and you don't hear her complaining. Plus, I still have time left to take this chance and I will." Tracey said firmly, trying to hold back the tears and the memories of her ex husband.

Effie became more angry. "It was a selfish decision no matter which way you spin the story. Lottie and I only had one more year of school and we had friends! Instead we are moving to butt fuck no where anyone has ever heard of in this heat because of a stupid fucking dream you had as a kid! What did you leave behind that's so hard to let go of, because I know it's not dad." Tracey started crying. Lottie became extremely concerned now.

"Watch your language Elizabeth" was all Tracey could say before the tears came. Lottie elbowed her sister in the ribs hard, to show her she had gone too far.

"Mum," Lottie said calmly, "it is really hard for all of us and it was a decision you did keep us out of. But, I know why you needed to do this and I'm sure that once we settle in we will be fine. You can get used to anything really." Lottie put her hand on her mother's shoulder as the tears started calming. Effie just went back to looking out of the window, feeling more than guilty but never admitting it.

And there was the sign, thought Effie. The sign that indicated the arrival of more confusion and misery. WELCOME TO SANTA CARLA, it read. Effie's gaze locked onto the sign and followed it as the sedan drove past. Much to Effie's shock there was more to the sign on the back. MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD, was plastered in bright red graffiti. Effie nudged her sister.

"Look at that sign," Effie whispered to Lottie. Lottie looked through the back window but they were too far away now as she didn't have her glasses on. Lottie looked uninterested and half hardheartedly asked what it said. And then Lottie was interested.

"Mum," Lottie asked, "didn't you say one of the reasons you moved us to Santa Carla was because the houses were so cheap and that because we didn't have a lot of money it was an opportunity we couldn't miss?"

Tracey looked through the interior mirror, eyes dry now. "Yes, it was a brilliant opportunity. One your sister doesn't seem to see the benefit of."

Lottie cast a worried look over the sea which abruptly disappeared behind various run down buildings and posts covered with pictures of missing children.

"To be honest mum," Lottie said, "sometimes I think that Effie has a keen sense of judging when a situation is going to be bad."

 ** _End of Chapter 1._**


	2. Chapter 2: The Middle of Nowhere

_**Chapter 2: The Middle of Nowhere**_

The small beach town was just as strange, if not more strange, than the girls could ever have imagined. So much color and chaos in the same vicinity. The long, winding cliff-side road hid the town with its jagged turrets of rock which masked the coastal region of Santa Carla. The ocean continued to crash below onto the crags of the cliff with harsh and unrelenting force as the sea lulled back with gentle reservation and then slammed against the mass, as if it were an enemy. As the red Sedan made it's way into the town, nothing could be said about the charm of the area. Effie and Lottie observed the homeless sat in doorways of rundown buildings, with their chipped paint work and smashed windows. Hippies were busking for a few cents here and there along the sidewalk as children ran around without shoes on screaming; at least they were blind to the reality. Some kids were even dumpster diving for food without being self conscious whilst the people shopping, one might consider the "normal folk", were walking around aimlessly, without soul or step. Yet at the same time, it was plain that there was so much to explore - Lottie would like to think of it as a world of potential.

The sedan rolled slowly through the road of the town whilst the family idled at the locals.

"You might want to pick up the pace, mum. Someone might steal our wheels at this rate." Effie jested as she and Lottie observed the stares of the townsfolk. It was like they knew they were outsiders and could sense their judgement in the air like a bad smell; even Lottie found it hard to keep a cheerful perspective. Tracey's eyes were darting in every direction, also feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Well, at least you can't say this place hasn't got character." Tracey chided.  
"I need one of you girls to look at the map, there is a dirt track just outside the town somewhere that's supposed to lead us up that hill to our house, just where those trees are up there"

Tracey pointed to what appeared to be a woodland area just outside of the town. Lottie reached for the map and passed it to Effie.

"I'm shit at geography, you do it," Effie apprehended.  
"I just enjoy getting you to admit it," Lottie smiled.

She pulled out the map and directed Tracey to a sandy dirt track that lead away from the town, much to everyone's comfort. Trees and nature surrounded the track and the sedan was struggling on the new terrain. Lottie noticed how far out of the suburbs of the town the track was leading.

"Mum, where the hell is the house? We're in the middle of nowhere." Lottie questioned.  
"The perfect location for us to be hacked up in the woods by one of those freaks." Effie laughed.

Tracey scowled at the twins.

"Don't put ideas into your own heads, girls. It's a ranch house just outside of the woodland area, and you have a great view. Dirt cheap to buy. It's easy enough to walk down to the town and the beach AND it's nice and breezy up here in this heat" Tracey smiled at the new scenery around her. "You kids watch too much of that horror channel on TV." She remarked.

"That's Effie, not me!" Lottie protested as she brushed her long brown hair out of her blue eyes.

"I don't think murderers would find us all the way out here anyway, " Effie said, looking at the view of the ocean.

"Oh, we do have neighbours!" Tracey smiled. "They seemed ever so nice. Well, I only managed to meet one of them. Her name's Lucy. Lovely woman, very softly spoken."

"One of them? How many are there? Don't tell me they're a family full of little brats." Effie asked curiously.

Tracey thought for a moment. "No, I think there are only four. Lucy said she lived with her Dad so he would be older and no bother at all and I think her sons are older too, we didn't really have time to chat." Tracey said sadly. "I'm looking forward to having Lucy as company though, she's recently divorced too."

"Great, can't wait for your charity bake sale events." Effie said sarcastically. Lottie laughed at that one.

"There is nothing wrong with my bake sales!" Tracey remarked. "You girls love my baking. OH! There's the house girls! Isn't it so cute?"

What appeared to big a red ranch house with white steps leading up to a big front porch came into view. It looked a bit tired and outdated but it wasn't as bad as the girls initially imagined it to be in comparison to the rest of Santa Carla. The front of the house faced towards the view overlooking the town and the beach. The sedan pulled into a wooden gated drive way, a little distance away from the house.

"A few flowers will soon brighten up this dry garden." Tracey said happily. Effie and Lottie emerged from the car and grabbed their things from the trunk. Most things were moved over to the house before they arrived.

"Where are the neighbours?" Lottie asked, looking around.

"Oh, they live a ten minute walk up the road at the very end of the dirt track. They definitely have the best view of the place." Tracey said as she unlocked the creaking wooden front door. "But this ranch house and their ranch house was hand built years ago, it's really charming and original. Mostly made of timber."

"Yeah we can see." Effie remarked as they walked into hallway with the wooden floorboards creaking underneath them.

The house was sparse as only basic furniture was placed around. Boxes remained scattered awaiting to be unpacked. The kitchen, dining room and living room were a decent size but the general aesthetic of the place was that of traditional wooden charm, the place was possibly built 100 years prior and quite tribal and rustic.

"Apparently this place is built on Native American grounds. Lucy said her Dad has kept their house quite traditional to the Native themes." Tracey said as the family walked up the stairs to their bedrooms.

"That's the first cool thing I've heard about this place. We can get possessed too." Effie stated, Lottie laughed.

Tracey rolled her eyes at her daughters, "Just sort your rooms out girls."

Each room was fairly big with large windows looking out onto the woodland in the middle of each room. Lottie's taste of decor was more refined than Effie's edgy styles with her eye for soft pastels and love of vintage. Effie was minimalist and stated, ironically an understatement on her loud personality. With the night drawing in, the girls settled to sleep with much difficulty.

The twins were woken up the next morning by the pounding of their mother on their bedroom doors.

"It's eleven, girls! You've slept to the afternoon nearly." Tracey chided. "I want you to sort yourselves out sharpish. We are going over to the Emerson's once you're ready. I've spent all morning sorting out the house phone with an electrician."

Lottie could hear Effie groan in protest through her bedroom wall.

"And then I'm putting you both to work in the garden!" Tracey said distantly as her voice carried her away down the stairs.

Both girls groaned in protest.

The hot midday was met with reluctance as the girls dragged themselves down the front porch and towards the sedan. Tracey started laughing.

"You lazy girls!" Tracey exclaimed, "we're walking!" the girl's reactions were met with laughter as Lottie had already half climbed into the back seat of the car.

"In this heat?" Lottie said

"You'll have to get used to it at some point and it's only ten minutes away! Come on." Tracey walked towards the wooden gate as the twins followed halfheartedly.

The walk was surprisingly pleasant, if you enjoyed isolated dark woods. Birds chirped and sang, giving a comforting sign of life to the quiet area. Effie was getting annoyed at the sand sneaking its way into her converse as she walked as a slight breeze was carrying the sand in the wind over the scenery of the ocean. Sooner rather than later, a house similar to the colour and timber of their own came into view down the track. As the front yard came into view, Effie sharply inhaled and Lottie couldn't tell if this was with shock, humour or both.

"What the fuck is this?" Effie laughed pointing to the Native American memorabilia surrounding the yard.

"Are they wind chimes and stuffed animals?" Lottie questioned, trying to hold back a laughter of disbelief herself. Tracey shot them a glare of warning.

"Elizabeth, Charlotte, shut UP! And be polite for Heaven's sake!" Tracey said through gritted teeth. The twins knew she would want to save face in front of her new friend and act civilised. Not that they were as terrible as the locals...

The family walked up the steps onto the porch and knocked on the front door, soon to be greeted by a woman with a kind face and warm smile.

"Oh, Tracey!" The woman exclaimed, " I am so pleased you decided to come by with your girls! Aren't they such a pretty picture? If I remember rightly, the blonde is Elizabeth and the Brown haired is Charlotte?" The woman smiled excitedly at the girls. "How fascinating to be twins but look just like normal sisters."

Effie and Lottie liked the lovely woman straight away. This was obviously Lucy. Lucy and Tracey embraced in a friendly hug.

"It's been months!" Tracey exclaimed, " I am so happy to finally have moved here."

Lucy guided everyone inside, "please do come in everyone," she said kindly, "I'm delighted that we finally have some neighbours around here! Not that Santa Carla is boring by any standards."

As Lucy said this Tracey raised her eyebrow at her girls, _see,_ the eyebrow seemed to suggest.

"This house never fails to amaze me, Lucy," Tracey said honestly, "It's so authentic and cosy."

Lottie and Effie observed the hallway full of taxidermy animals of all kinds, a deer head on the wall, a rabbit on the table, a fox in the corner of the hall. It was all going on in here. Lottie felt a bit sick. Lucy noticed Lottie's face.

"I know it's strange, honey. My dad's hobby I'm afraid. He loves his dead creatures." Lucy said apologetically.

"No, it's fine!" Lottie fumbled, "It's very..."

"Different" Effie chimed in with coyness in her voice.

"Is your dad around?" Tracey wondered, steering the conversation of dead rodents away.

"Unfortunately not, I haven't seen him all morning. He doesn't like going into town so I don't know where else he disappears to all the time. He's quite active for a 60 year old." Lucy said as she escorted the family into the kitchen.

"I'll bet he is," Effie said to Lottie under her breath as she noticed the cannabis plants growing in the window. "Is he a toker, I mean smoker?" Effie asked trying to hide her observation with little effort. Lucy seemed oblivious to what toking meant luckily, as Tracey shot another glare at her daughter.

"Dad does tend to indulge in cigars." Lucy smiled, " I wish he wouldn't but it's his house. If my boys were ever caught smoking though, that is a different story." Lucy laughed, Tracey laughed along too whilst giving her daughters a knowing look.

"Why does mum hurt us like this?" Lottie asked Effie under the laughter of the women. Effie smirked.

"That reminds me, I guess I should be bringing them downstairs." Lucy smiled as she walked out of the kitchen and shouted up the stairs to her sons.

"They won't be a minute," Lucy said as she came back, "Please, take a seat in the living room." Lucy said to the girls.

"Actually Lucy, " Tracey said "There is something I came over to discuss if that's OK?"

"Sure, we'll talk in here. See you girls later," Lucy said as the girls walked back out into the hall.

The twins were left staring into the eyes of the dead rabbit on the table.

"What do you think mum would want to talk about?" Effie asked Lottie trying to listen in on the conversation. Lottie rebuked Effie's behaviour with an elbow.

"It's her business." Lottie said bluntly.

"Oh, Saint Charlotte from the book of revelations how pleased to finally meet your acquaintance," Effie smirked and laughed as she curtsied mockingly to her sister.

"Shh I can hear footsteps," Lottie said as the sound of heavy shoes could be heard coming from the landing above.

"Wonder what saints these two guys will be. Mum said they were older," Effie whispered to Lottie

"What, by two years?" Lottie remarked as a tall boy with curly brown hair made his way down the steps followed by a smaller blonde boy in a very, very colourful shirt. Effie looked in disbelief.

"I was imagining a 30 year old," Effie said with laughter

The tall boy walked towards the girls with more confidence than his smaller counterpart.

"Hey, I'm Michael and this is my little brother Sam," Michael said casually to the girls.

"I'm only two years younger than you, Mike!" Sam exclaimed in embarrassment and nudged his brother. Clearly there was a generic older brother vs younger brother relationship between them, but close.

"I'm Effie and this is Lottie but of course adults always call us Elizabeth and Charlotte." Effie said drily "And yes we are twins, yes we know we are not identical and this is interesting for you."

Sam smirked at the rebuke of his brother's confident behaviour from Effie as it was met with a more blunt response. Lottie was being her usual shy self but Effie could tell there was something lingering.

"Is there anything you want to say Lottie?" Effie asked encouragingly

"Hello," She said smiling coyly at Sam specifically, her eyes kept glancing to meet his - Effie thought.

"You guys should come and sit in the living room," Sam gestured welcoming the girls further into the house. They followed noticing more dead animals surrounding the living room on shelves and tables. The boys spread themselves out on the sofa and the twins took the remaining arm chairs.

"You have no TV?" Effie noticed.

Michael laughed out loud and looked at Sam. Sam looked blank, like this was a topic that was frequently discussed in the house.

"No but we have a TV guide," Michael said with more laughter.

"So," Sam started passionately, speaking with his hands," Grandpa thinks that if you read the TV guide then you don't need a TV."

Lottie giggled.

"I'm sure Lottie and I would be more than happy to accommodate your MTV needs at our place," Effie slyly remarked whilst looking at Lottie's reaction; which was to look directly at Sam. "Although, I must admit your Grandpa has logic."

"Really? You sure your Mom wouldn't mind? I've tried convincing mine but she doesn't watch TV, neither does Grandpa. But I do!" Sam said getting hopeful at the prospect of MTV.

"And what do you do Michael?" Effie asked turning her attention upon the older brother.

Michael let out a sigh of thought and acted aloof and chill, running a hand through his hair.

"Go out on my bike and stuff really," Michael said

"On a bicycle? You go on long bicycle rides? Can't see it." Effie said sarcastically. Mike shot her a look.

"Motorbike." he said bluntly.

"Did I hit an ego nerve?" Effie said smirking

"Don't be so upfront, Effie!" Lottie chided her. With Sam smirking wider at the conversation taking place.

Michael let out a scoff and rolled his eyes to give the impression he didn't care, although his pride for his motorbike was certainly hurt.

"Don't worry about Mike, he's been all mysterious since we moved here 9 months ago," Sam said factually.

"And why did your family move here?" Lottie finally said, interested in hearing Sam. Mike started looking uncomfortable as he shifted around in his seat.

"Well.." Sam said thoughtfully, "Our Dad and Mom got a divorce and so Mom moved us back here. She grew up in this house with Grandpa. Grandma died a few years back now, unfortunately. We're originally from Phoenix in Arizona."

"I'm sorry to hear that. It's been a difficult time for your family." Lottie said softly. Effie didn't want the question to shift to their family situation so she took back the conversation.

"And what is there to do for fun around here?" Effie asked, "It seems very...weird, this place."

Sam's face brightened a little.

"I hang out at the boardwalk more than anywhere. The town is a little dead but the boardwalk has always got something going on. Umm.. the Frog brothers."

"What?" Effie said with a grin on her face, "FROG brothers?"

"Are they your pets?" Lottie asked simply

Mike burst out laughing as Sam cracked a smile.

"Noo, their last name is Frog, Edgar and Alan Frog." Sam side smiled

"Well they sound really interesting to meet." Lottie said starting to come out of her shell.

"You should come down with us to the boardwalk sometime then," Sam suggested. The sisters' face lit up at the idea of having plans.

"OH MY GOD THERE'S A DOG!" Lottie shouted with excitement as a big husky came through the door cautiously and sat by Sam's feet.

"clearly a dog fan then?" Sam asked her

"stuff the dog," Effie said before realising they were surrounded by stuffed dead animals. Mike smirked. "We need to talk about this boardwalk business. When and where?"

Just then Tracey's voice could be heard shouting for her daughters that it was time to leave and get things done in their garden. The girls sighed with disappointment.

"Take our number," Sam said grabbing a pen and paper from the table next to him and handing his home number to Lottie. _Interesting,_ Effie thought.

"We'll be sure to give you a guys a call," Effie said with a smile as her and her sister stood up and walked into the hallway.

"Thank you so much for coming over." Lucy said opening the door for her guests. "Don't be strangers, if you need anything just drop by." She smiled

"We'll see you guys," Mike said, still aloof

After the pleasant goodbyes, the family walked back down the dirt track towards their house to tackle the garden problem.

 _ **End of chapter 2**_

 ** _Reviews and constructive criticism welcome._**


	3. Chapter 3: Bicycle Race

_**Chapter 3: Bicycle Race**_

It had been 24 hours since the visit to the Emerson's house and there was certainly a lot to be said about what happened in such a small amount of time. The walk back to the twin's house the previous day had been full of thought as Effie wondered if her observations were correct; Lottie certainly had her eye on Sam. Whether it was just a shallow attraction of looks, considering Effie herself could admit Sam was pretty cute, or a genuine feeling of warmth, Lottie took some form of interest in the colourful and quirky boy. Lottie had remained quite all the way back to the house and even when unpacking the left-over boxes from the house or digging holes for plants in the garden, Lottie seemed to be mulling something over in her delicate mind. Effie never pressed the situation as she sometimes liked to merely observe the behaviour and body language of those around her, it was a hobby.

Effie noticed how Lottie had seemed very contemplative the last 24 hours. No matter what Lottie was doing around the house she always seemed to do it with a quiet content, as if there were something better to look forward to. She sat out on the porch at night when all of the garden furniture was put out and simply admired the view of Santa Carla. She hummed to herself as she was in the living room knitting (her hobby) after breakfast the next morning, she didn't even fuss about washing the dishes. Effie checked up on Lottie every now and then to see if she had come out of her happy, little waking dream but no matter what time of day, Lottie was the same. However, Effie thought it was strange that Lottie had not spoken again about their visit to the Emerson's.

When Effie was outside on the porch reading as Lottie was playing clock patience with a pack of cards, she decided to take matters into her own hands as discreetly as she could and get what she could out of her sister about her feelings towards the visit.

"You know what I noticed yesterday," Effie said as Lottie didn't even look up from her game.

"what?" Lottie asked, distracted.

"Sam and Michael seem very close but estranged at the same time. It's weird to see." Effie said passingly.

"sometimes I think you just read into people too much, Eff." Lottie said, still not looking up from her game.

"Well, what do you think of them?" Effie asked trying to push for a juicy response.

"Can't say. Don't really know them yet, do we?" Lottie said glancing up briefly at her sister. Effie kept her eyes on Lottie.

"Ever the diplomatic, aren't we?" Effie said as she rolled her eyes at her sister's good-natured response, "anyway, I think Mike is definitely acting aloof for a reason, something doesn't seem right there. And I think Sam is just a simple guy really. Nice, seems to have a laugh, what do you think?"

Delving into the personalities of the brothers seemed to illicit more of a response from Lottie.

"I feel like Sam is a nice guy, too. The loyalty his dog had to him says a lot about his character," Lottie said smiling

"Should have known you would base your response around the dog," Effie smirked, "Sam seemed to like the fact that you were a dog person too. Maybe you should ask to walk the dog with him some time, he did hand you his house number.." Effie pressed slyly.

Lottie looked up directly at her sister now with squinted eyes.

"I know what this is." Lottie said as Effie's smile grew, not hiding the intention. "very clever Effie but your little tricks don't work on me. And fyi, Sam gave US his FAMILY phone number."

"How defensive of you," Effie remarked with a smile. "You know me, I can see things from a mile away when it comes to awkward situations and I could tell you thought Sam was cute. I think you made up your mind about him before he even opened his mouth."

Lottie blushed and put her cards down.

"I haven't made up my mind about anything. Like I said, we don't even know them. Yes, Sam is very cute, even you agreed to that but that doesn't mean I'm planning our wedding." Lottie said with a passion.

"I bet you did have a brief image in your mind of what it would be like to be with Sam, though. I can guarantee it. Look me in the eyes right now and tell me you haven't." Effie smiled, looking at Lottie. Try as Lottie might she couldn't maintain the gaze without blushing even more, she knew that there was no use in hiding even her private thoughts from her detective sister.

"So, I had a little ponder about him. So what? He probably has a girlfriend anyway." Lottie said going back to her card game.

"Classic response of a girl not wanting to get too attached to the idea of romance," Effie said jestingly.

"Mum's right, you watch too much TV." Lottie said going back to playing her game. Effie decided that was as much as she would get out of her twin for that day.

But that wasn't all Effie was questioning. She still wondered what it was their mom could have spoken about to Lucy with such private urgency. It was weird that after so many months of not speaking to each other, apparently, there would be so much to discuss. Tracey had been gone from the house most of the day saying she was going to walk into Santa Carla and see what it was like and she wanted the girls to stay put at the house before going off and exploring on their own, much to Effie's dismay as she saw herself as an adult at 17. As usual, her sister didn't question their mother too much and was wrapped up in a world of her own anyway.

As dusk was coming and the sun was setting over the sea in the horizon of the ocean with orange and pink tints, Effie was thinking about swimming in the beautiful sea. When a loud ruckus destroyed all tranquillity. At first the sound was a low humming which then approached fast, with growing vibrations. Lottie sat with her hands over her ears looking around for whatever it could be. Effie had a pretty good guess. Michael could be seen riding down the dirt track on his motorbike as he gave a nod of acknowledgement to the twins sat on their front porch.

"It's just Mike's bicycle," Effie said to Lottie with disdain for the ignorant noise of the contraption.

"It sounded more like he was riding his mom's hair dryer, Jesus Christ!" Lottie said with annoyance. Effie started singing Bicycle Race by Queen, (look it up). Both girls laughed profusely.

Then their mom pulled up into the drive way.

"Hey mum," Lottie said happily, "what was it like?" Tracey walked up to the porch.

"Definitely interesting but I decided to come back once the sun was setting, it was like all the weird folk started emerging at that time of night." Tracey said

"Mike did just go past on his bike so that explains it," Effie said smirking "What did you end up doing all afternoon then? Does this mean we can ring Sam and actually make plans to go down the boardwalk?" Effie asked, desperate to escape the house.

"I don't know, girls. It's really different out here. Plus, all the flyers of missing children does not really put my mind at ease if you two were to go down there on your own," Tracey said thoughtfully, Effie's brow furrowed.

"That's why we would be going with Sam. He gave us his number, so we wouldn't be going it alone. He said he goes to the boardwalk most nights so he would know about everything. The boardwalk is probably where Michael is heading right now probably!" Effie argued her point, reeling to get away from the seclusion.

"I guess if Michael were to go with you as well it would make me feel a little better. He can babysit you." Tracey said. Effie snorted.

"babysit? He's like 19 that's only two years older than us!" Effie snapped

"If it makes mum feel better then we should take that option, Eff. Like she said, we don't know this area and Mike is an older, stronger guy than Sam so if anything were to happen he could look out for us." Lottie said with reason.

"Yeah, I guess Sam isn't such a threat with his Hawaiian shirts. He could blind the enemy?" Effie said making Lottie laugh.

"If you all go as a group then you can do what you like but until we get settled in and know what's going on around here then you're going nowhere on your own. Got it?" Tracey said over protective as she walked into the house in an attempt to get away from Effie worming her way around things, as would usually be the case.

"Just be happy we have a mom who cares," Lottie said to Effie, Effie sighed and nodded knowing full well how much she did truly appreciate their mom.

"I know that, dude. The real question of the night is…Who is going to ring Sam? I vote you." Effie said smirking. Lottie's face heated up with embarrassment, she really wasn't too good at hiding her emotions well.

"We will both ring him." Lottie said with reluctance.

The girls headed inside to dial the number. Lottie held the phone and was tapping her foot, obviously nervous.

"Hello?" a boyish yet curious voice said on the other end of the phone.

"umm.." Lottie said with reluctance

"Hello who's there?" The voice said with less patience

"It's the twins!" Effie said down the phone to save her sister's embarrassment.

"Oh, hey guys! Sam here. Mike went out a while ago" Sam said with more spring in his voice

"Yeah, we heard him. Sounded like he was in a rush," Lottie said getting her voice back

Sam laughed casually, "he will be going to hang out with his friends. I don't see him as much as I used to." Sam said with a hint of annoyance in his voice "but it's cool because I have my own pals now. I'm heading down to the boardwalk to see them tonight if you want to join?"

"Well that's why we called," Lottie said "Our mom said that she would feel more comfortable with the four of us going as a group. She's a bit nervous about us being on our own at the minute, just until we settle in, if that's okay with you?" Lottie said thoughtfully, not wanting to push any unwanted responsibilities on Sam. Effie rolled her eyes at her Sister's saintly nature.

Sam paused for a moment.

"Uhh, I think that should be cool. It's just, like I said, I don't hang around with Mike as much as I used to since we got here so it might be tough to convince him to stay with us all night. My friends don't really dig him, y'know?"

"How come?" Effie said down the phone with curiosity, Lottie looked at her sister with annoyance at her forward nature.

"Mike has his own stuff going on at the minute and they aren't too crazy about the people he's been hanging around with since we moved her. It's not really Mike, I think it's his friends." Sam said nervously

"And are these friends the reason Michael acts so cool guy?" Effie said smirking

"Exactly," Sam said passionately, "he's unavailable lately."

"Well you don't have to…" Lottie started, but then Effie pushed her sister out the way, grabbing the phone off her as she did.

"Well you better tell that untouchable celebrity brother of yours to take us down to that boardwalk before I pop holes in his tyres!" Effie said with half sarcasm, half seriousness. Her sister retaliated and brushed her out the way whilst grabbing the phone back. Sam laughed.

"Don't mind her, she's crazy." Lottie said to Sam as she glared at her twin, Effie gave her the middle finger. "do whatever you can and just let us know?" Effie said kindly and softly to Sam

"Why are you putting on that voice?" Effie asked her sister

"Shut the fuck up!" Lottie said as she held her hand over the phone receiver so Sam wouldn't hear.

"Yeah, sure. I will give you guys a call tomorrow. Um, do you mind giving me your number?" Lottie told Sam the number and hung up the phone, then elbowed her sister in the ribs.

"You're fucking unbelievable sometimes" Lottie said walking off up the stairs. Effie laughed at her sister's tantrum. As nice as Lottie could be she could also be just as stroppy.

The next morning rolled around and as the girls just finished eating their breakfast and Tracey disappeared down into the town again, the phone rang. Effie ran for it with Lottie following close behind.

"Hello?" Effie said with hope in her voice.

"The boardwalk is on for tonight."

 _ **End of chapter 3**_


	4. Chapter 4: We got it wrong, bro

_**Chapter 4: We got it wrong, bro.**_

The night couldn't come quick enough for the twins. All day was spent guessing about the sights they were going to see down on the boardwalk, what crazy people they may bump into – and they haven't even scratched the surface on everything that Santa Carla has to offer.

Effie had difficulty sleeping the previous night for unknown reasons. There was something still unsettling about the place even though they had already spent a few days at the house. It was like Effie's gut just knew that something was off about the entire town and that it didn't look as sleepy as it did when she remarked on how they were living in the middle of nowhere. So many questions were left unanswered about the whole move across the ocean. All her mom said was that the place was build on Native American land and that the whole area was secluded and quiet. The house was hand built, but by who? Who used to live here?

These were the questions that kept Effie thinking at night. Her sister wasn't bothered about scaring herself with any second guessing about the new place, she just wanted to take everything as it came. A wise decision.

Effie was awoken from her restless sleep at 4am that morning. She had regretfully peaked her eyes open to look at her alarm clock and sighed at the time. _Only four hours sleep_ , she thought. Then she heard the familiar sound of Michael's motorbike come up the dirt path, at least she assumed it was Mike. She struggled out of bed to the window to check her mind wasn't playing tricks on her, before realising her window faced out into the woods and not of the track. She huffed and walked quietly out of her bedroom and across the hall to look through the front window of upstairs. It was definitely Mike. _Must have gone out drinking, illegally might I add_. She thought to herself as she watched Mike race up the road in a hurry. For some reason, Effie had the instinct to duck down and hide herself from view of the window and rightly so, as Michael glanced up at the window as he rode past. "Doesn't seem like he's actually drunk driving," Effie said out loud this time. She watched Michael disappear from view leaving a spread of dust behind him. Effie noticed the slight break of sunrise before she climbed back into bed. _Freak,_ she thought.

That evening the twins started getting ready. Lottie had called Effie into her room to help her decided what to wear.

"It's so warm out here so I might just go for my dress," Lottie said with a sigh

"You always did dress a little girly," Effie said with a yawn as she lay on her sister's bed.

"You always did dress a little boyish," Lottie shot back. Effie looked at what she was wearing, she thought high waisted jeans and her favourite over sized leather jacket was fine. She was all about edge and comfort.

"I look fine. Besides, I'm sure leather jackets aren't unheard of out here. If Sam can get away with what he wears without getting stabbed I think I'll be ok." Effie said closing her eyes.

Lottie tried on a long white beach dress and grunted. "It's too formal for the boardwalk." She wriggled out of it and tossed it on the floor.

"Just put one of your skirts on and let's go!" Effie moaned. "Sam said they were coming to pick us up at 7"

"Yeah I guess I'll have to see what stalls they have down there." Lottie said as she restored to her dark pink button front skirt.

A car horn blared.

"That's them!" Lottie screeched as she tried to finalise the last touches of make-up. She looked up at Effie through the mirror. "Are you not going to do anything with that hair?" Lottie smirked.

Effie looked at her hair in the mirror. "It's a perm, it's supposed to look messy. Let's go already!"

The girls raced out the front door shouting goodbye to their mother. Their curfew was 11. Michael and Sam were sat in an old 1950's Cadillac in mint condition, Effie whistled.

"Sweet ride!" Effie said genuinely, probably for the first time since she got to Santa Carla.

"It's amazing!" Lottie said enthusiastically.

Michael gave a half smile as if he knew the car made him look cooler than he really was. Sam smiled,

"It's grandpa's, but we take it every now and then. I don't think he knows." Sam laughed as he hopped out of the car letting the girls climb into the back.

"Little chauffeur as well as an escort tonight are you Michael?" Effie said sarcastically as Sam laughed louder. Michael shook his head and sped off.

"Funny, kid. You're lucky I even agreed to this." Michael said wryly

"We appreciate it very much, Mike." Lottie said which made Michael smile for a moment.

"It's no problem really." He said back with more life in his voice.

"Yeah, we do actually appreciate it, bro. Don't mind my British sarcasm." Effie said a little apologetically with the fear Michael would refuse to take them out again.

"Just being a good neighbour." Michael said distantly.

Effie thought about bringing up the fact he woke her up at 4am that morning but decided that she had already picked on Mike too much for that night as he clearly wasn't in the mood for jokes and it would be in her best interest to not piss him off. He would obviously take some time to get used to her. But then again, Sam did say Mike had been different since they came here so maybe she was being too judgemental of him, as usual, as she remembered telling Tracey she thought Michael was too arrogant for his own good.

Lottie chimed in.

"So, what's the plan for tonight then, Sam?" She asked wanting to get his attention. Sam turned around in his seat to look at her.

"I'll take you to meet the Frog brothers. The guy's I mentioned when you came by the other day." Sam said excitedly. Michael scoffed and shook his head.

"Those two clowns again?" Mike asked Sam.

"Lay off, will ya?" Sam said annoyed, "They're cool once you get to know them, which you haven't. You just think they're some joke."

"That's because they are." Michael said dryly.

"Can't wait to meet these angels" Effie said sarcastically, but she really was curious about meeting them.

The drive to the boardwalk was left with an air of hostility between Sam and Mike after their little spat. Michael appeared to be extra moody today. Lottie wondered if Michael would end up wondering off when they got to Sam's friends as she knew Tracey wanted him to keep an eye on them. This worried her as he was always on over thinker. What if they got attacked and Sam wouldn't defend them or someone tried to abduct them? It didn't help when missing children flyers were floating through the wind as they reached a car park near the boardwalk. It was a bizarre sight. Laughter and carnival music filled the air with lights glittering in the night as rides twirled around and around and people seemed to be walking around with glee and adventurous looks in their eyes. _How could such an eerie place be overshadowed by the bright lights of fairground rides?_ Lottie thought.

The boardwalk was big and bold, nothing like the twins had ever seen back home. Everything was so over stated and bright, there didn't seem to be a care in the world as passers by existed in a world of their own creation. Sam lead everyone down the walk pointing to different attractions.

"That's the big dipper. My favourite ride!" Sam said with a smile on his face to Lottie.

"Effie is more the thrill seeker than me," Lottie said blushing

"Don't worry we'll find something for you to enjoy" Sam said considerately as they carried on walking.

"Is Mike okay lagging behind us like that? Our mum said she wanted him to stick with us all night," Lottie said worriedly, Sam noticed the look on her face and frowned.

"I honestly don't know. Mike just does what he wants these days. Our mom hasn't been too happy with him either. They used to be so close but now he just pushes everyone away. Never mind about that though," Sam said catching himself in his emotions, "If Mike does wonder off we'll just stay with the Frog brothers. They have a comic book shop just down near this doughnut place."

It did relieve Lottie a little.

"And Mike knows to be back at the car by 10:45 to take you guys home, so don't worry so much, ok?" Sam said checking on Lottie. She was grateful.

"It kind of reminds me of Effie. She tends to do what she wants sometimes." Lottie said lovingly about her sister.

"you guys are pretty opposite aren't you?" Sam asked intrigued.

"Not as much as people would think." Lottie said glancing at Sam's face every now and then as they walked, "we definitely have our own way of looking at things but I like to think we both care a lot about things that mean something to us. Effie isn't as brash as she comes across." Lottie said looking back at Effie who was admiring the view of the ocean, she knew her sister was dying to go for a swim at some point. "And we both have the same humour. I'm just not as open as Effie is."

"Why's that?" Sam questioned, also glancing at Lottie as they walked.

"She's just less caring about what people think than I am. Effie can laugh at herself and not take things so seriously but I just don't like being in the spot light, as such," Lottie said blushing a little at her honesty with Sam. But if he was genuinely interested to know about her and her sister then she would certainly take the opportunity to tell him.

"You'll definitely come out of your shell around here. I totally did when I met the Frog brothers. You'll like it!" Sam said with a smile. Lottie was somewhat disheartened at the passive response, but what did she expect? She thought. He's still a guy at the end of the day, no good with deep words. Then Lottie blushed at the realisation she wanted Sam to say something profound to her. But what? Her train of thought was cut off when Sam announced they were at Frog's comics.

"see ya later," Mike said passively as he started to walk off towards the beach

"Where are you going Mike? You promised." Sam said running after his older brother

"That was before I realised you were going to join the freak show." Mike said brushing his brother off with an attitude.

"Don't be a dick Mike! Just hang around a little longer. We could go play some games on the boardwalk or something?" Sam said trying to appeal to his brother, but there was no luck.

Lottie's heart sunk a little bit as she watched Sam desperately try to keep his word to the twins by getting his brother to stick around but Michael's mind was obviously made up.

"I said see ya later Sammy. "Mike said as he walked off towards the beach and disappeared into the crowd.

Sam walked back reluctantly to the girls with his feet dragging behind him. He looked up to them apologetically.

"It's fine, Sam. You can't control your brother. You did what you could." Lottie said warmly. Effie shook her head and was filled with rage at the display

"I'm definitely considering popping his tyres now. He sucks, dude." Effie said with disgust at Mike.

"Effs! That's Sam's brother you're talking about, right in front of him, might I add?" Lottie said trying to check Effie's behaviour.

"Well he wasn't acting like much of a brother," Effie said, still angry.

"No, she's right." Sam said, "He does suck. Especially now he can't keep a promise. I don't expect you to want to hang around with him after the way he just walked away from you guys. Hold on a minute, that's strange." Sam said walking towards the door of the comic shop. "The sign says closed. The Frogs never close this early." Sam said with confusion. "Let's just go in, they won't mind me." Sam said opening the door.

The girls walked in behind Sam looking around the comic book shop with even more confusion than Sam had with looking at the sign. Everything was dark and dingey, no one was around. It looked more like a ghost town than a place where people happily purchase comics. They walked further into the store, following Sam who was clearly trying to look around for any sign of his friends. Just then Effie let out a scream, there was a thud as she fell to the ground.

There was a figure on top of her a little larger than she was pinning her to the floor. She kicked but couldn't feel anything around her feet. She looked up and could just make out a face and noticed that the arms were pinning her by her shoulders, so she bit down onto the hand of whoever it was. This was met with possibly a lounder scream that she originally gave out.

Just then the lights came on and another boy came running in with a baseball bat. It all happened so quickly Lottie and Sam only just had time to realise what happened.

"Edgar, get the fuck off of her man!" Sam said with urgency.

"I'm bit!" The one named Edgar shouted. "Al, I'm bit! Done for!" he said rolling around on the floor.

At this point Effie scrambled onto her feet and went for Edgar, who was laid on the floor believing himself to be missing a chunk of his hand. She gave him a hard kick.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Effie shouted as Sam and Lottie went to drag her away from Edgar.

"Alan!" Edgar shouted ignoring Effie, "I'm bit! You need to get out! Sam run!"

Sam went to shake Edgar out of his frenzy.

"Dude these are my new neighbours. No one has bit you! Snap out of it!" Sam said dragging him up onto his feet. Edgar stopped shouting and looked around. No blood was on his hand and four faces were staring back at him with disbelief.

"We got it wrong, bro" The one name Alan said to his brother monosyllabically

"Oh." Edgar said composing to his usual grouchy self.

 _ **End of Chapter 4**_


	5. Chapter 5: Respected as a Warrior

**Don't worry everyone, the original lost boys do come into the story!**

 **I want the pace of the story to be realistic and the characters to be well developed, as if they were real. No one wants a basic character with a dry background, right?**

 **In the meantime, do let me know what you think of the story so far with a review - I accept anonymous reviews!**

 **Also, what's everyone's favourite character so far? I'm always looking forward to hearing what you think. Thank you for following us on this journey!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 5: Respected as a warrior**_

"What do you mean 'got it wrong, bro' you fucking creeps! You attacked me!" Effie said with rage as she walked up toward Alan, Sam ran to hold her back by her arm.

"Technically, Edgar was the one who attacked you, dude. I just ran in with the bat." Alan said with even less personality in his voice than before.

"And what were you planning to do with that bat 'dude' because I can tell you plenty of things I would do with it," Effie said still walking towards Alan, Sam couldn't really hold her back because he didn't want to get caught up in the crossfire, he didn't really know what Effie was like when she was angry.

Sam decided to try and resolve the situation with words as Edgar was still recovering from the kick Effie gave him, afraid it would get even more out of hand.

"Guys, let's chill for a sec. Effie would you stop looking at Alan like that?" Sam asked concerned for Alan's safety. Effie took a step back and shrugged Sam off her arm.

"Sure," she said reluctantly, still keeping her eyes on Alan, "when he drops the bat."

"Alan, drop the bat." Sam said annoyed. Alan dropped it with a thud to the floor and put his arms up.

"Now," Sam said slowly, looking around at everyone, "do one of you guys want to tell me why your store was closed and in darkness," Sam said more to Edgar than anyone else. Edgar stood up composed but still clutching his side after the kick.

"And why you attacked me, that would be great" Effie said, her voice dripping with fury and sarcasm. Edgar ignored her and looked at Sam.

"We were planning an ambush. Thought we had finally got the bitch." Edgar grunted.

"What bitch?" Sam asked confused.

"Your dick brother's girlfriend." Edgar grunted again, "It was the hair, dude. It's like exactly the same."

Sam let out a gesture of realisation, "oh, you thought she was Star?"

"Does someone want to explain this in plain English to me before I really fucking get annoyed?" Effie snapped at the boys.

"Edgar here thought you were Mike's girlfriend, Star, you have similar perms. He got it wrong, confused you with her. That's why he attacked you." Sam said stuttering. Effie let up a little bit.

"Told you to do something about that hair," Lottie said to her sister as a matter of fact.

"And why in the hell would you want to attack a girl anyway you psychopaths?" Effie said looking at Edgar with contempt and ignoring her sister's comment.

"Because she's" Edgar started, but Sam stepped in on the situation before it got too much for the girls. He didn't think they would be ready to deal with everything yet.

"Because they don't like her!" Sam jumped in with a keen voice, "Because they don't like the fact that she goes out with my brother because they don't like my brother, remember?" Sam said desperately, he gathered that Effie was pretty quick to jump on things and try to find them out so he hoped that she would just accept his word in this crazy situation. He glared at Edgar and Edgar knew the situation, they didn't know.

"The girls are new here, guys. Just moved in a couple days ago in that empty house down the road from me." Sam said giving a pleading look to Edgar to tone down his usual act. Edgar nodded at Alan as if they could read each other's minds, everyone knew the girl's situation.

"Well," grunted Edgar, "I respect you as a warrior." He said turning to Effie.

"wow, Effs, it's the first time a person you've beat up has acknowledged you for it," Lottie smirked, still shaking at the previous ordeal. This remark made Effie ease up abit more.

"Are you ok Lottie?" Effie and Sam asked in unison.

"I'm fine guys I just wasn't expecting this welcome," Lottie laughed awkwardly

"The Frogs aren't really used to people" Sam said with honesty "Shall we all just chill and forget about it," Sam said keen to get off the subject. But Effie had so many questions.

"Why were you wanting to 'ambush' Mike's girlfriend?" Effie said with curiosity.

"She's been snooping around lately," Edgar said to Sam more than he did to Effie.

"Oh yeah because you guys think she's been stealing from you, right? You've had a bunch of rare comics disappear, recently haven't you?" Sam said still trying to cover the situation up and appease Effie's curiosity. Edgar played along.

"Yeah, we think she's been stealing so we just thought it best to protect our investments." Edgar said drily looking at Effie.

"Oh no, why didn't you call the police?" Lottie said with genuine concern.

"Do you really think from what you've seen from Santa Carla so far that the police do their jobs around here?" Edgar said monotone. This was a statement which both girls could accept, what with all the unsolved missing children's reports flying around.

"I guess so" Effie said still thinking the guys were on drugs or something.

"Let's just have a chill night ok everyone? Like I said, these are the new neighbours I told you guys about Effie and Lottie. They're twins." Sam said trying to implement some form of manners. "And this is Edgar and Alan Frog," Sam said turning to the girls, the Frogs nodded at the girls without saying anything else.

"Right," Effie said with a smirk, "what a way to meet people."

"we should show the girls around the place, they've been looking forward to coming here." Sam said to Edgar, trying to make the situation friendlier. Edgar huffed.

"And girls are interested in comics?" Edgar said with doubt

"Actually, Effie is, kind of." Lottie said trying to paint her sister in a positive light.

Edgar actually managed to show some expression on his face and looked at Effie.

"What do you read?" He asked her with little hope.

"horror comics, mainly." Effie said bluntly

"She's always been big on horror. Mum says she watches too much of the horror channel on TV." Lottie laughed awkwardly.

"What kind of horror comics?" Edgar said, still not convinced.

"Huge fan of the Tales from the Crypt series. I watch it on the horror channel a lot too. I guess anything really, Black cat, terror tales, Dracula lives" Effie said casually.

"Not too bad." Edgar said trying to act unimpressed, "I guess I could show you around, but don't touch anything." He said bluntly before he beckoned Effie to follow him to the horror section.

"I'm not fond of horrors myself," Lottie said with reluctance, "So I might sit this one out"

"It's fine, neither am I," Sam said, "I'll hang back with you, I'll show you some other stuff, if that's cool with Edgar?" Sam said looking to him, Edgar nodded and beckoned Effie to follow him again.

"Alan, man the door." Edgar said and Alan nodded and walked to the front door.

The horror section wasn't too far away tucked into a corner at the back of the store. Effie could tell that the brothers took care of their store as everything was in near mint condition. Everything was clean, alphabetised and neatly stacked with almost nothing sticking out of place.

"You have an impressive collection," Effie said with surprise

"Thanks," Edgar mumbled as he watched her scan all of the comics on the rack with a keen eye.

"And I guess I am sorry about the kick in the ribs but you did deserve it after you came out of nowhere and floored me." She said with some form of regret, it wasn't easy for Effie to apologise for anything anymore but she had enough like toward Sam that she wanted to get along with his friends as she wasn't doing too well with Michael.

"it's fine," Edgar said dryly, Effie looked at him clearly expecting more of a sentence but Edgar wasn't very good at speaking to girls. His eyes wondered around before looking back at her with more of a response, "I didn't mean to attack you, obviously." He nodded.

Effie could have laughed with frustration.

"I'll take that as your version of an apology then."

"I already said I respected you as a warrior what more of an apology do you want from me?" Edgar asked genuinely confused with what was wrong.

"Because that wasn't an apology that was you just saying shit out of context. But if you want to think of me as a warrior then that's fine by me." Effie said smirking a little, she had never been called that before.

"You put up a good fight. That's good in Santa Carla." Edgar said bluntly

"It's cryptic around here isn't it? I've had a weird vibe from the place. I don't like it." Effie said with a little shiver down her spine at the realisation she was living here for the foreseeable future now.

"You notice anything strange going on around here?" Edgar asked suspiciously, following her around the stacks of comics.

"Besides the people just looking like freaks and the weird amount of missing cases, no. This is my first night out since I moved here." Effie said looking at Edgar, "What usually goes on around this place?"

Edgar thought for a moment as he didn't want to reveal too much too soon about Santa Carla but he was already thinking about recruiting Effie as a bit of muscle around the joint and he didn't want to scare away one of the only people who could possibly kick some ass.

"Just a lot of run a ways and weirdos, like you said. It's best if you stick to groups around the boardwalk at night, don't want to go missing yourself, right?" Edgar said with reinforcement in his voice

"I guess that's good advice. I'll keep that in mind," She said passively fingering through some horror comics. Edgar's eye twitched.

"I told you not to touch anything," He said annoyed.

"Sorry, some of these are really cool though." Effie said stepping back from the rack. Edgar secretly took the compliment of his stock to his head.

"Yeah we can get you anything you need," He said casually, leaning against a rack. Effie's love of horror comics had appeased him the tiniest bit.

"Don't suppose you could get me some ear plugs," Effie said passingly as she continued to look at the comics

"What for?"

"I've been sleeping like shit. Doesn't help with Mike shooting up the path on his damn bike before sunrise every morning." Effie said annoyed all over again at the prospect of Michael on his bike, then she remembered how tired she was from the early hours of that morning. Edgar raised his eyebrows.

"Really? Where's he been lately?" Edgar said interested now. Effie shrugged.

"Don't know and don't care. He's a douche. He hasn't been easy to get on with since I moved here. There's something about him that is so fake but I can't put my finger on it just yet, early days and all." Effie said looking at Edgar, he nodded.

"A wise choice. You don't want to overthink too much around here. Just keep to yourself and hang around with a group of at least 3 people at night." Edgar said with some concern at the fact Effie found it hard to keep to herself, as shown by her confident nature.

"So what do you do around here then?" Effie asked getting sick of the cryptic advice about surviving in Santa Carla.

"Me?" Edgar stuttered unprepared for anyone to ask about him. "my family owns the comic book store and I'm the store assistant with my brother Alan by day, but by night –" He cut himself off still trying to not reveal too much to the girl.

"By night what?" Effie said raising an impatient eyebrow. Edgar became stoney faced.

"By night we run the comic book store" Edgar said without trying to be creative in his response to cover up his double life.

"Yah, you already said that." Effie said crossing her arms and leaning against the rack next to Edgar. He felt like he was under scrutiny, something he wasn't used to.

"Yeah, we're always here. We run the comic book store." Edgar said starting to feel a little nervous but not letting it show on his face. He could sense she was onto him.

"Really? I couldn't guess." Effie said, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes and started walking away from Edgar, she did find him somewhat amusing underneath the bandana and very small personality. Edgar looked around to make sure no one was watching him before letting out a big sigh of relief that he managed to get Effie to stop questioning him. Covering up the truth about Santa Carla was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

Edgar and Effie walked back to the other end of the store. Alan was stood, true to his word, right by the front door keeping a look out as Sam was talking Lottie's ear off about some superman comic that he loved. Just then –

"Stop right there!" Alan said pointing his bat at the front door. Michael could be seen walking towards to comic book shop.

"Shut up, retard." Mike said as he kept trying to open the door. Edgar ran over to help Alan keep the door closed by pressing their bodies against it.

"You're not invited here creep!" Edgar shouted to Mike as Mike just stood rolling his eyes at the brothers, Sam soon ran over.

"It's fine guys, I'll go out to him." Sam said pushing his way past the brothers.

"What do you guys have against Mike that is so bad?" Lottie asked, Effie raised her eyebrow because usually it was her sister telling her not to be overly forward about another person's business. But at the same time, she knew Lottie didn't like anyone to be treated too badly. "You won't even let him into the store to see his own brother," Lottie continued. _Wow, she really cares about how things are for Sam. It's abit creepy._ Effie thought.

"You can't invite them in!" Alan said raising his voice at Lottie, as if he thought they were stupid not to know, Edgar punched him in the arm.

"Shut up dude." Edgar said under his breath

"Them? Who else is out there?" Effie said walking towards the door, she could see a girl with a similar perm to her own stood near Mike and Sam but looking around as if keeping a watch for something. _That must be Mike's girlfriend,_ she thought. Before she knew it, Edgar was pulling her back by her arm away from the door.

"We'll handle this, ladies." Edgar grunted as a sat Effie and Lottie down behind the cash register. Effie didn't even know how to respond to what just happened. Before she could say anything, Edgar grabbed something near her legs from behind the cash register.

"Is that a water gun?" Lottie asked with disbelief.

"What do you do to robbers, wet them to death?" Effie said laughing. The quirky characters were actually amusing her more than annoying her and they didn't seem to bothered about her sarcasm or they just didn't care enough to respond but either way, it worked out. Edgar chucked Alan another water gun and they ran out the store.

"I need to see this" Effie said following them to the front door but much to her dismay, they had locked the girls in. "As if!" Effie shouted as she tried to open the door. Lottie came over and looked out the window.

All Lottie could see was Alan and Edgar shouting with their water guns held up like they were trying to threaten someone, Sam stood between them and Mike and Star walking away. Soon the scene was over as Edgar came over with some keys and unlocked the door.

"Shows over, folks. You can go now." Edgar said pushing Effie and Lottie out of the store.

"Nice to meet you!" Lottie said but the Frogs had already shut and locked the door on them again.

"Let's get you guys home." Sam said leading the way back to the car, "Mike's already at the car waiting."

"What the fuck was that?" Effie said to Sam even more confused than she ever has been so far.

"Mike came over to take us home, I guess he had a change of heart and felt bad for leaving us but the Frog's don't like him so there was no way they were letting him into their store." Sam said not making eye contact, Effie found it so much more suspicious than before.

"So why the girlfriend and the locking us inside and the water guns then? Some minor details you just left out there," Effie said pressing for answers, Sam started to pick up his pace in response to his nervousness.

"I need to back Effie up on this one. That was weird." Lottie said to Sam, this made him even more on edge, he was counting on Lottie to diffuse her sister but it didn't work. He just carried on walking, trying to shake his brain for something he could say. The story was covered up pretty well before but now he had nothing. Sam just resorted to pleading to Lottie's good nature.

"It's truly a long story guys, I will definitely tell you some other time. Ok? I know the Frog brothers are really hard to get used to, everything is around here but for tonight let's just get home ok?" Sam pleaded, luckily his last resort worked as he saw the twins soften up.

"Of course, Sam." Lottie said softly, putting an arm on his shoulder. He looked at her with relief.

"I just don't appreciate being locked up like a prisoner of war," Effie said still bitter but finding humour in the situation.

"It's just Edgar's way of protecting you." Sam said

"From what? Earlier on I was a warrior." Effie laughed passively. She wanted to let up on Sam, he looked like he was breaking a sweat the whole way back to the car. For once, she decided to drop it.

The next morning, just before the crack of dawn, Effie was woken up by Mike's motorbike again. Sam had drove them home the previous night as when the trio got back to the car, he wasn't there. She was too tired to ask any more questions. Due, to a lack of sleep, or simply her anger, Effie stormed up to the front window of the house and lifted up the screen to shout out to Mike. But he was already gone.

 _ **End of chapter 5**_


	6. Chapter 6: Sweet dreams

**Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed so far, I'm so glad you're enjoying the story!**

 **This chapter is very short as it is meant to highlight what Effie and Mike are both going through and how the interact on their own as individuals. Do you think there will ever be potential for friendship there? Or will they always be too different.**

 _ **Chapter 6: Sweet dreams aren't made of these.**_

Some time had passed since the ordeal at Frog's Comics and Effie wasn't sleeping any better. Every morning before sunrise it was the same routine, Mike coming home on his bike and Effie only having a few hours sleep. Her mum and sister never seemed to stir when this was happening, only Effie was having troubles sleeping and when she did she would have the craziest dreams.

Just last night she was dreaming about the stories she used to write as a kid with Lottie to help them escape the constant arguing of their parents. Effie always wanted to write scary stories inspired by her mum's favourite novel, Bram Stoker's Dracula. However, the dreams she had about these stories the previous night were more vivid and haunting in her adult mind. She used to write about a man with wings coming to her window every night to protect her from her dad but this time it was too real and the figure was more sinister than she had intended as a child.

The white demonic face and the red eyes of a monster screaming at her, perched on her window ledge, were enough to make her wet the bed for the first time since grade school. She awoke in a frenzy of panic and sweat, too scared to even walk to the window and look out into the woodlands that surrounded her house. _Why is this all coming back up now?_ She thought. Was it the house making her crazy or the town? Her new acquaintances? In embarrassment, Effie moved her bed sheets to the washing machine in the kitchen before hearing the familiar sound of Mike. In her sleep deprived and angry state, she did what she didn't plan on doing and ran out of the house to the dirt track and stopped Michael dead in the middle of the road.

Michael's bike veered off to the right and came to an abrupt holt, just missing Effie.

"WHAT THE FUCK, KID?" Mike shouted in confusion as he sat on his bike in disbelief.

Effie was aware of the state she was in, hair all over the place, her pyjamas, she could still feel the urine drying to her skin as she stood in the open staring at Michael. He definitely thought she was crazy now, she thought.

"I could say the same to you! Mr. party all night. Every morning, EVERY morning for the past few weeks all I hear is you coming up this path and it's driving me crazy! I can't sleep and I'm sick of it!" Effie said, her voice hoarse from sleep. She tried to sound pissed off but her throat just sounded like she had been ill. Mike looked at her with worry, like this was the first time he had taken her serious.

"Look at me, Michael, seriously! Does this look like the face of someone well rested and sane?"

Mike shook his head quickly as the look Effie was giving him was a little intimidating as she walked closer to his bike.

"Tell me now, why the hell do you insist on doing this at the same time every day? Do you ever sleep? Ever? What do you even do all the time, there isn't that much to do out here!" Effie said becoming more frustrated at all the unanswered questions she had building up since she moved.

Mike just hesitated. He became stiff as he sat on his bike in thought at the interrogation. He felt bad. Bad that Effie was suffering by his hands in this way.

"I'm really sorry Effie." Was all he could say. Effie scoffed loudly at the empty response before her.

"You're sorry." She repeated quietly, not even looking at Michael. "Do you actually mean that though, Michael? Like do you even know how awful you are to be around. I'll be honest, you're a dick. You're a miserable, distant, sarcastic dick. I know I can be sarcastic but that's a joke for Christ sake but that's just who you are. Do you know that?" Effie said bluntly, she looked like she was completely done with him.

"I know that." Michael said quietly, the conversation reminded him of the way he pushed his mom away when he first became friends with David. All secrets and snooping around. Everyone else suffering because he had to be selfish.

"I don't know what else I can say, Effs. I didn't know you felt like this." Mike said looking away from Effie, embarrassed.

"Well now you do. Not that it changes anything. I don't even know why I bothered coming out here like this, in this state, just to tell you this. Like Sam said, in the end you will always do what you want to, won't you, Mike?" She said before turning away and walking back to the house.

Michael watched as she hugged her arms around herself and slowly walked away form him, with no life in her steps anymore. He noticed how tired her eyes look and how exhausted she was, she couldn't even shout the way she usually does. Guilt washed over him, but what could he do? These girls had no idea and he wasn't about to put them in danger with telling her why he snuck out every night. But how was Effie to know he won't tell her anything for her own sake; for her families. If the Frog brothers haven't already told her, he definitely wouldn't. He didn't know what he could do. He got off his bike and walked towards Effie.

"Here," He said as he handed her his jacket, "It's cold out." He said trying to be nice but sounding more like his usual moody self.

"Thanks. I guess this means you're willing to talk?" Effie said with more enthusiasm as she swung his leather jacket around her shoulders.

"I just want you to know I really am sorry. I didn't know you were like dealing with insomnia or whatever." He hesitated as he was trying to sound sincere, he shifted his feet around as he spoke, "you should go to a doctor or something like that."

"Thanks for your great advice and warm words," Effie said sarcastically as she handed Mike his jacket back and starting to walk away again. Mike put a hand on her shoulder.

"Please, Effie. I know you don't like me but I'm trying here. I'm not a bad person, honest. I'm just – "

"Selfish?" Effie said raising an eyebrow. Mike huffed.

"Aside from that, there's a lot going on for me right now."

"And there isn't for everyone else?" Effie shot back, "You're not the only person in the world with problems, Mike. Whatever it is you've got going on, sort it, because I need sleep. If that's the reason you sneak away every night then please just fucking do something about it." Effie said as she walked away back to the house. Mike just sighed and went back to his bike.

"And one more thing," Effie said, making Mike turn around, "Don't forget Sam." And with that she left.

Mike sat on his bike. She was completely right, he was selfish but little did she know it was for her own good. If she knew, there would only be more suffering and his own family had already suffered enough. But he was glad the twins were around, their mom kept his mom company, the twins were there for Sam because he couldn't be, in a way it was a good distraction but he knew it couldn't last forever. She was right, he needed to fucking sort it. He revved his bike and took off.

 _ **End of Chapter 6.**_

 _ **Wow, what a provoking scene, right?**_


	7. Chapter 7: The Specimen

_**Chapter 7 : The Specimen**_

Over the past few weeks Lottie was becoming worried about her family. Her mom was out in Santa Carla all the time at a new job and it was starting to make the twins suspicious and Effie's health was deteriorating. Effie never had the energy to do anything anymore, she was slacking on chores and was going out less and less with her and Sam. For a while Lottie thought that Effie was avoiding Sam's house because the tension between her and Mike was worse than ever for some unknown reason. It was like Effie, all at once, never wanted to talk about Mike anymore. Maybe she was just fed up with it all.

Lottie was left trying to keep the peace. Picking up her sister's work around the house and trying to keep Sam and Lucy from coming over to check up on her. Luckily, Tracey and Effie had been arguing less, mainly because Tracey was never around, but because Effie was just too tired to be her usual detective self.

Lottie brought up some coffee into Effie's room one afternoon to try and wake her up.

"C'mon Effs, you love your coffee!" Lottie said sitting on Effie's bed as she was laid flat out on her stomach. Effie just mumbled.

"Thanks, but it's not working anymore. Has mum gone out to work again?"

"Yeah she will be gone for a while I guess. We should have some fun for once though, it's been a week since you saw Sam. Mum and I had a great game's night with him and his mom on Friday, should have been there. They all missed you." Lottie said cheerfully hoping it would peck her sister up, which it did a little.

"Really? They actually wanted me there that bad they said they missed me?" Effie looked at her sister in disbelief.

"You don't realise how out of it you've been lately, Effs. You were always around with your jokes and stuff. It's been obvious you haven't been yourself. Even Mike asked how you were doing, he said you should see a doctor because you look like you haven't been sleeping." Lottie said rubbing Effie's back.

Effie sat upright.

"Did he now?" She said annoyed, "well that's nice of him, isn't it?" Effie said sarcastically but it didn't come across the way it usually does because of how drained she was. Lottie didn't even catch on.

"It really is when you think about how much you two don't get along." Lottie smiled, "maybe he's taking the first step in trying to make amends?"

Effie snorted at the remark, "I guess so." She said bluntly, acknowledging that he was really trying to apologise the other day.

"You sure you don't want to do something with me and Sam today?" Lottie asked softly, more like a mother would.

"I'm sure. I need to sleep." Effie said laying back on her bed

Lottie got up and left her sister to rest. This wasn't normal for Effie, she was usually the life of the party and it wasn't nice at all for Lottie to see her this way; all quiet and disinterested. She needed to do something so she picked up the phone and rung Sam.

"Hello?" Sam said in his usual boyish tone on the other end of the line. He was always the first to pick up the phone, Lottie thought.

"Hey, it's Lotte again." She said happily

"Who else would it be?" He laughed

"True. Listen, I need to do something for Effs. Her moping around the house is killing me. I need to try and come up with a plan to get her having some fun before she wastes away." Lottie said spilling her concerns to Sam, whom was weirdly a good listener, despite not being good at words himself.

"I'm sure we can think of something. Did you have anything in mind?" Sam said brightly

"Well, she still refuses to come out so we'll have to bring something in. Like, maybe you could get the Frogs to come over here. I know I've been keeping your family away for a while but I'm getting to the end of my tether here. She needs to do something. Besides, she does get along with Edgar." Lottie said hopefully.

"I'm pretty sure I could get the Frogs to come over to yours if I explain the situation. They could bring some comics for her or something." Sam said in deep thought, thinking was so hard for 17 year old boys. "I'll give them a call and let you know." Sam said.

"Sure, talk to you later."

Luckily the Frog brothers were available to come over that night. _Must have finally got their parents to wake up and run the store_ , Lottie thought. She didn't think the Frog's would come on such short notice with their dedication to the comic book store being priority, they must be worried.

That day dragged with the evening rolling around. Tracey had come back from work but decided to go around to the Emerson's to keep Lucy company. _Perfect,_ Lottie thought. She went upstairs to wake Effie up.

"Effiieeee, guess who's coming over." Lottie said knocking on her sister's door. But there was no response, which surprised Lottie because as soon as she mentioned anyone coming over nowadays Effie was moody about it and always protested. She opened the door a crack and could see Effie in a deep sleep and she knew there was no way she was waking her up unless she wanted to be killed. She wondered downstairs to ring Sam and cancel the plans but the plans were already in motion when a heavy, urgent knock at the door was heard. Lottie ran over to open it.

"Guys?" She said as she saw Sam trying to drag Edgar and Alan away from the house.

"Where is she?" Edgar said, ignoring Sam's tugs.

"Guys, I told you it's not what you think you need to cut it out!" Sam protested.

"What's going on?" Lottie asked confused.

"We need to see the specimen before we can do anything to help you." Alan said in his usual monosyllabic tone and dead pan face.

"Specimen? Is that what we are calling her now," Lottie laughed, oblivious, "She's in a really deep sleep right now so you guys will have to be quiet."

"Perfect. Move out." Edgar said barging into the house.

"Wait god damnit!" Sam said running in after them.

Lottie shut the door and ran up the stairs after the boys afraid her sister would seriously kill her not only for inviting them around but for letting them barge into her room without warning. The Frogs were opening every door upstairs to try and find Effie.

"It's a real shame, I was starting to warm up to her," Edgar said to Lottie as he ran past.

"What's a shame? She's only been more tired recently" She asked Sam as he was the only one who seemed to see that the Frog brothers were acting more weird than usual.

"Specimen located!" Alan whispered loudly to the group as they opened the door and started sneaking in.

"You can't go in there, seriously! She'll kill me!" Lottie said worrying for her own safety.

Edgar looked over his shoulder, "She'll kill us all if you don't let us do our jobs."

"What the fuck?" Lottie said to Sam who was at a loss for words at this point.

"I just told them she wasn't sleeping at night and really tired through the day and that was why she didn't want to hangout and stuff but then they went crazy and came over like straight away on their bikes and – "Sam said frantically to Lottie with his hands on her shoulders, trying to distinguish how she would react to what he was about to tell her, but he was cut off.

"Why are they carrying pieces of sharp wood?" Lottie said worriedly as she followed them into Effie's room.

"This isn't a real specimen!" Alan said in anguish as Lottie walked into the room.

"Sam, you fucking liar, she looks fine." Edgar grunted turning on Sam.

Lottie's heart dropped as she saw Effie was wide awake and sat up right in a freakish shock at the sight in her room.

"Oh, Effie, you're awake now!" Lottie said laughing nervously, then she got even more confused, "Why are there bulbs of garlic on your bed?" She asked curiously

"Maybe because tweedled fucking dum and dee decided to launch them at me whilst I was asleep." Effie shot back with venom in her voice, she hated being woken up. Lottie turned to the boys slowly, really confused now.

"Why did you throw garlic bulbs at my sister?" She asked quietly, Sam and the Frogs just looked back and forth to each other realising the mistake that was made. "And why did you bring pieces of wood?" Lottie pointed to them.

"Barbeque!" Sam said loudly, "We came over to have a barbeque,"

"With sticks of wood and whole bulbs of garlic?" Lottie asked as if they were crazy, she crossed her arms eyeing all of the boys up but she was quicker to believe than her sister. And in her heart, she knew Sam would only want to help and if this was the crazy way the boys were trying to help then who was she to refuse it in her desperate hour.

"I like garlic," Effie said tiredly

"Well then I guess we are having a Barbeque." Edgar said with a spring in his voice, which was unusual; Effie thought. Edgar and Alan always seemed miserable and self-contained but maybe they enjoyed a good barbeque. Or maybe Edgar was just pleased to hear Effie liked garlic.

"It's a nice idea, boys, but you didn't come very prepared," Lottie laughed as the boys started relaxing a little. Effie was definitely suffering from sleep deprivation if she didn't even have the gusto to question what just happened.

"Do you even have a barbeque?" Alan asked plainly

"No actually," Lottie said sadly, "We can still have dinner though with the…lovely garlic bulbs you so kindly brought over." Lottie said still hesitant at the boy's idea of what a barbeque entailed.

"Let's get cooking then!" Sam said a little too enthusiastically as he practically shoved the Frogs out of Effie's room with Lottie and Effie following behind.

The Frog brothers, to no one's surprise, were not very good in the kitchen. A lot of shoulder shrugging and frustration took place as they tried to figure out how to cook. Sam at least knew how to chop things and put them in a pan but most of the organisation was down to Lottie. Effie sat at the table with her head in her hands trying not to fall asleep. Edgar walked over to Effie after giving up trying to be a chef.

"You're lucky we're even trying to cook for you," Edgar said as he sat down in frustration. Effie rolled her eyes.

"You think I'm lucky every time you bless me with your presence," Effie shot back, worn out.

"Well you wouldn't know cos you haven't been around, I've been waiting on ya for two weeks to pick up that comic I got for you." Edgar said mildly annoyed

"The one you huffed and puffed about ordering for me that I paid for? I'm not letting you take the credit for that," Effie said laughing a little at the guts Edgar had to make out he had done her a huge favour. "Besides, you said you could order in anything so you're only doing your duty as a store assistant"

"Yeah, well" Edgar hesitated, "if it were any other chick I would have kept it for myself but you have an eye for comics so I'll let you off,"

"You're not used to people in general, obviously" Effie said

"So, I never got out much. Never been anywhere but here with my comics, didn't need people." Edgar shrugged.

"Everyone needs people. I know you have your brother but life is bigger than that."

"Well there is a lot you don't know that I do know," Edgar said with regret

"Like what?" Effie questioned.

Edgar cursed himself in his own head for slipping up yet again. His conversations with Effie were always competitive and full of fun back and forth that he sometimes forgot to keep an eye on what he was saying.

"About Santa Carla, just trust me on that one." Edgar said slyly

"I'll have to, trying to get anything out of you is trying to get blood from a stone. You're so stubborn." Effie laughed.

"Stubborn is a good thing around here." Edgar said.

He really did want to be honest with Effie as time went on since she moved to Santa Carla but the reality was so big to face. Not only that, his trust with Sam would be on the line and Sam was his first true friend, aside from his brother. Effie was right, everyone needs people. Edgar just didn't realise it until she moved here. But he had to stop himself from getting too close to her otherwise he knew he would want her to know. He couldn't be as close to her as he wanted and it would actually bother him to see Effie try so hard to get through to him, to get something out of him whether it was answers to her question or getting to know him as a closer friend, he just had to take those steps back. He knew they bounced off each other and had fun but it was shit to see a block put on that friendship with the secrets held from her.

"Shut up, Ed. I'll pick up the comic when I have the time," Effie said

"So, you'll drop by with Sam and Lottie for once?" Edgar said a little hopeful

"Sure," Was all Effie managed to say.

 _ **End of chapter 7**_


	8. Chapter 8: The Date and The Doctor's

_**Chapter 8: The Date and The Doctor's**_

It was time for Effie to take Mike's advice whether she liked it or not and she needed to see a doctor. Lottie arranged for Sam to pick them up in his Grandpa's car, as Mike was always asleep during the day due to his "crazy parties" all night. Effie suspected he was going out and taking drugs and that's what he needed to sort out, but there was no way she was going to get caught up in his problems when she was trying to sort her own _. Besides, he's a dick until he gets back to this old self that Sam keeps talking about_ , she thought.

That morning Tracey was unhappy at Lottie for once, and Effie woke up to the sounds of Tracey and Lottie in a heated discussion; their arguments never got out of hand the way Effie's did.

"I can't believe the price, Charlotte! Who even spends that long talking?" Tracey shouted

"I'm genuinely sorry mum, I didn't realise." Lottie said sadly

"He only lives down the road, why do you need to ring him all the time?" Tracey fired back

"Because I don't want to leave Effs on her own in the house." Lottie defended again quietly

"You're not responsible for your sister Lottie you can go down the road and see your friends if you want to," Tracey said, laying off a little bit as she knew her daughter had a lot of loyalty to her sister, which melted her heart.

"I know, mum. I just didn't want to. Effie's been sleeping really bad lately so we were just talking about taking her to the doctor's" Lottie said starting to get emotional, she wasn't used to being told off this way. Effie then made an appearance down the stairs.

"What the hell are you giving Lottie such a hard time about, damn" Effie asked with concern on her face, Tracey looked up to her eldest twin.

"I have an 100 dollar phone bill to pay, that's why!" She said getting riled up again

"What the fuck dude?" Effie said turning to her sister

"I know, I don't need a lecture from you either!" Lottie said defensively

"And what's this doctors appointment that's happening, what's wrong with you Elizabeth?" Tracey said with a little concern but disbelief, she knew Lottie could be a worrier.

"I've not been sleeping right the past month or so mum, I told you." Effie said with her eyebrow raised and arms crossed at how her insomnia was so low on the remembrance list for their mum.

"Oh yes. Well, surely you don't need to go to the doctors, just try not to sleep through the day."

"Not that simple mum. Besides, it's not like you would be around to know," Effie said with sarcasm "We don't even know where you are half the time, so maybe tell us that one?" she said folding her arms. Tracey got defensive.

"I told you, I got a job in town so we don't need to worry about money anymore," Tracey said

"If we don't need to worry about money then why are you kicking off about this phone bill?" Effie asked bluntly, this stunned Tracey as it was true. She told her girls their struggle was over now she had a good paid job but it was apparent from her feelings about the bills that it was otherwise.

"Well, mum?" Effie pushed. Tracey sighed.

"Girls, sit down." Tracey said pointing towards the living room. Both twins sat down on the couch with their arms folded as their mother stood before them.

"We're struggling for money more than I let on. I don't get a brilliant wage, just minimum. Lucy got me a job at the video store with her and I just wanted you girls to not worry more about this place than you already have. I'm sorry for not being fully honest with you both." Tracey said with tears in her eyes, both girls immediately went to hug their mother.

"It's fine mum. We know you had good intentions." Lottie said warmly

"I'm sorry for not being around as much. I didn't realise how much Elizabeth was suffering with her sleep, I'm a bad mother to you girls sometimes," Tracey said through her tears.

"You've always tried your best with what you've had, no one's perfect" Lottie said holding her mum tighter, Effie was trying to hold back tears herself. She knew her mum cared and she scolded herself for being so harsh on her when she didn't realise what's going on in her own mother's head. They're only human.

"I do need to get to work now though, girls. I tried to not worry you so much but I guess It's always better you know the truth." Tracey said as she headed towards the door.

"Do what you need to do, mum. We'll see you later," Effie said understanding of the situation.

As soon as Tracey's car pulled out of sight from the window, Effie turned on her sister with a playful look in her eyes.

"So that's what you've been doing whilst I've been asleep all day" Effie said with a childish voice

"What?" Lottie said trying to act as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Ohh, hey Sam me again bet you missed me didn't you babe can't wait to come over to yours and play games with your mom again, it's my favourite thing," Effie mimicked dramatically as she pretended to hold a phone to her ear.

"Shut the fuck up!" Lottie said going bright red in the face

"Get a sense of humour, girl." Effie chided as she walked into the kitchen and poured herself a coffee, annoyed that her sister was so sensitive sometimes.

"Well I'm glad to see my personal life is putting you back to your usual self," Lottie said distantly

"Personal life? Now you have a personal life? What's so personal about you and Sammy boy, then. Seems I've missed more than you let on." Effie said with a smirk on her face as she sat at the table with her sister. Lottie shook her head at the trap she dropped herself in and sighed.

"We've just had a lot of time to get to know each other, that's all." Lottie said vaguely

"Don't be so cryptic with me, you sound like Edgar." Effie said mildly annoyed "Just tell me for god's sake, it's not like I have too many people around here to tell,"

"You can't say anything to anyone, ok? Not the Frog's or anyone." Lottie said turning extremely serious. Effie nodded in anticipation.

"He asked me on a date," Lottie mumbled too quietly

"Didn't quite catch that, say it louder for the people in the back," Effie said sarcastically as she held her hand to her ear dramatically.

"A DATE HE ASKED ME ON A DATE!" Lottie shouted for the first time in what seemed like forever, it made her vocal cords hurt.

"knew it." Was all Effie said

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lottie said turning bright red all over again

"I knew you liked him as soon as you saw him. You don't flirt well but it's obvious to me," Effie said with a smile on her face, it actually made her happy.

"I admit it, ok? I liked him straight away. He was cute, and different." Lottie said shyly.

"Tell me everything then, what do we know about him really?" Effie said, turning the conversation into one of her classic interrogations.

"He's still a boy at the end of the day but he's funny and he's been so supportive of everything that's been going on around here. We just clicked the more we talked and I guess you being ill gave us the opportunity to have some one on one time and that was that, he asked me on a date. He seemed just as shy about it as I was. I don't think he's done that before" Lottie said happily.

"That's it?" Effie said unsatisfied.  
"What more do you want?" Lottie shot back.

"The juicy stuff! His parents, what's happened with Mike recently, I want to know everything. Everyone's so vague around here it's like there's something to hide." Effie huffed, fed up at the lack of stimulation. "And don't forget that invisible weed smoking grandpa of his!" She said adding a giggle to the end of her memory of finding the plants in the windowsill at the Emerson's.

"Well, he does talk about Mike a lot," Lottie said thoughtfully. "He did open up a bit more about it as we got talking, but again, you can't repeat this, ever!" Lottie said looking her sister in the eyes all serious again, it actually made Effie a little uncomfortable. Effie nodded.

"He said that they were really close before they moved here and then after a few days Mike fell into hanging out with this group of guys and he hasn't been the same ever since. He stays out all night and sleeps all day. Didn't graduate school with great grades, but all he seems to care about his hanging around with his girlfriend and their pals all the time." Lottie said quietly leaning over the table, as if walls had ears. Effie knew about the girl friend and the late nights but nothing much about this group of guys.

"So, what do we know about his friends? Are they like, druggies or something?" Effie said, imagining they were some low lives that had coaxed Mike into becoming an addict.

"No, they just hang around the boardwalk and go out on their motorbikes and stuff. I have actually seen Mike with them a few times since me and Sam have been hanging out on our own." Lottie said.

Effie now realised how much she had missed out on if her own shy sister had actually seen these people who had changed Mike so much. And that was her key to figuring out what was up with Mike. She secretly decided to make it her own personal mission, but first she needed to get sleeping pills.

"So, they aren't druggies. I kinda thought they would be. That ruins that theory." Effie said abruptly

"Well, they don't look like druggies. Misfits, yeah. But druggies? No." Lottie said with integrity, she was far too judgemental of drugs and she would know someone who was a druggy for sure.

"What do they look like exactly?" Effie said with curiosity bursting out her veins, she felt like she was going to explode, she was finally getting somewhere, a reason behind all the sleepless nights.

"They're like a group of bikers or something. There's four of them, kind of around Mike's age. "Lottie said, but she could tell by the look on her sister's expectant face that she would want more, Lottie sighed. "The main guy had a platinum blonde mullet thing going on and dresses in all black, he looks like he could be the leader of the gang. He always seems to be the one Mike listens too and I don't think Mike's girlfriend likes any of them at all. She's always skittish and quiet around them. I don't know about the others, all I can say is two of them have a problem with wearing jackets but no shirts underneath." Lottie said exhausted, "Does that satisfy you?" Lottie said hopefully.

"Are they hot?" Effie asked

"Effs, does it matter?" Lottie sighed

"yes."

"They are definitely hot but not for me." Lottie said rolling her eyes, "is that enough for you?"

"For now." Effie said in deep thought, not even looking at her sister anymore.

"What more could you possibly want?" Lottie said frustrated and rolling her eyes at her sister's lack of boundaries for other people's business.

"Seeing it for myself." Effie said getting up and making her way to her room.

"Where are you going?" Lottie asked worriedly.

"Getting dressed," Effie shouted from the stairs, "Sam's been stood at the kitchen window for like 10 minutes, you might want to let him in."

"Oh shit!" Lottie exclaimed as she opened the back door for Sam.

She was so caught up in her sister's plotting mind that she didn't even know Sam was there waiting for them.


	9. Chapter 9: The Man in the Tree

_**Chapter 9: The Man in the Tree**_

Effie's trip to the doctors was nothing short of eventful. She noticed how close Sam and Lottie had become, they were so cosy and open with each other. Sam even told Effie how worried Edgar was about her and that he kept talking about her picking up the comic she wanted him to order. She managed to get some sleeping pills and that night she hoped they would work. The doctor told her an extreme but rare side effect was people might hallucinate when they are new to taking sleeping tablets as it makes them tired but they might not sleep properly until taking it for a few nights so they might wake up in the middle of the night and see strange things, like they are asleep but their mind is still active like a form of sleep paralysis.

That night Effie took her tablet and hoped it would work, not worried about any of the side effects, she was too exhausted to worry and just wanted to sleep- adamant she wouldn't wake up when Mike came home before sunrise the next day. Luckily for her she didn't, but she saw something else.

It was 1am and the house was still. She hadn't had any of her weird night terrors so far, she noted how she went to sleep at 9pm just hoping to get a decent night's rest so waking up at 1am after sleeping successfully for 4 hours seemed like progress and she still had enough time to try and get back to sleep before Mike came back. She laid in bed for a while but the sleep wasn't coming to her as easily as it did earlier in the night and so she took to pacing around her bedroom and reading some comics to try and tire herself out; her usual routine by now. Sometimes she sat by the window and watched the moon but ever since she wet the bed after her nightmare of a vampire sat at her window ledge screeching at her, she had been reluctant to peel back the curtains and look at what was out there.

Tonight though, she told herself how it was childish to still be worried over a dream and she decided to look at the beautiful bright moon as she hadn't managed it in a while. She sat at her window and just let her mind escape as she watched the still of the night peacefully. She thought there must have been a breeze that night as she could see some of the trees were shaking in her peripheral vision, but she never stopped looking at the moon. After a while, she looked away from the moon just before she decided to climb back into bed as her eyes were getting extremely heavy – wanting to close.

Paying more attention to the woodland at the back of her house, she noticed how it was only one of the trees swaying every now and then. _That's weird why aren't all the trees shaking in the wind_ , she thought. A big elm tree directly at the back of her garden facing her window was the only tree with branches swaying. Effie put her hands to the window to get a clearer look outside, curious to her observation and then she froze and her heart skipped several beats.

There was someone sat in the tree looking at her house.

She dropped to the floor under the window out of view, hoping whoever it was would go away and didn't see her. Breathing heavy, she remembered what the doctor said about hallucinating and thought maybe she was one of the rare people it effected. _That was as clear as crystal though_ , she thought, _it was so real, how could that not be real?_ She tried to remember what she saw. _Just a dark figure, a man sat in the tree. Definitely a man. With long dark hair._

 _Dared she look again?_ She thought as she considered double checking to make sure she wasn't crazy. She slowly knelt up and carefully rose the top of her head to barely peak over the window ledge and there it was, a man in a tree. As clear as day, as real as her.

 _He's just sat there, I can't see what he's looking at but he's just sat facing the house._ She knew there was an extremely slim chance the figure could see her peaking through the window due to the distance as she could barely make him out herself. She wanted to crawl under the covers and never leave her house again but she couldn't tear herself away from the window. She chastised herself for her curious nature but she needed to be certain she definitely wasn't crazy. _Surely if it wasn't real I would have snapped out of it by now?_ Unable to take anymore fright, Effie crawled across the floor and back into bed.

 _ **I'll fly away, for now.**_ A voice echoed in her head.

Effie started to hyperventilate, she must be hallucinating, she told herself _. No way can my normal self come up with anything like that, even for me._ She said trying to calm herself down but making little sense.

 _ **Sleep now**_. It echoed again.

Then Effie calmed down and become drowsy all of a sudden and fell to sleep without any issues at all.

The next morning Effie could have sworn she was hallucinating. She decided not to tell her family about her crazy night because she didn't want to make her mum more emotional than she already was considering the out pour of her feelings the day before about her job and money issues. The next few nights were better as the tablets started working and Effie was finally well rested. She decided to take a trip down to the comic book store and pick up the horror comic Edgar was so desperate for her to see.

"Well look who finally woke up from the dead," Alan said as Effie walked into the store. Edgar immediately popped his head up from behind the counter.

"Oh, look who it is," Edgar said a little more emotional than usual

"It's good to be back," Effie smiled meaningfully, "I forgot how good it was to be outside."

"Here it is," Edgar said producing a comic of Vampire's everywhere.

"Great, thanks for sorting this out for me," Effie said taking the comic and studying the contents.

"Well it comes highly recommended around here," Edgar said with relief at the idea Effie even wanted to read the comic at all. He knew she was smart.

"Does it? I didn't think a lot of people took this comic seriously." Effie said looking at the brothers.

"Sam didn't but then he, shall we say, grew to value it," Alan said with the emotion of a zombie, he couldn't pull off selling anything.

"What did make you want to order this comic?" Edgar questioned curiously

"Well, it's kind of embarrassing." Effie said vaguely, Edgar looked at her eagerly. "when I was little I stole Dracula, my mum's favourite book, and I just loved gothic fiction. Fell into the whole idea of vampires and stuff."

Edgar raised his eyebrows, "So you have some knowledge about vampires?"

"I wouldn't say knowledge, it's just a make-believe creature after all, but I would say they interest me in stories for sure." Effie nodded.

Edgar frowned a little bit. He had hoped Effie would have secretly taken the whole idea seriously but she was just another normie after all. However, the fact she even was interested in the idea of vampires was a good starting point.

"sometimes things seem more real than you might think," Edgar said factually.

"It's weird that you say that because I have been having these crazy dreams related to my childhood the past couple of weeks." Effie sighed

"Like what?" Edgar asked intrigued, leaning over the counter.

"well when I got into the idea of vampires as a kid I used to write my own stories with Lottie about them but the vampire I used to write about was protecting me, mainly from bad things in my life at the time. But lately I've been having the dreams I used to have about what I wrote, expect shits got really freaky with it, like, scary and stuff." Effie said carefully, not wanting to reveal how she wet the bed that night. "I'm probably just crazy. I haven't even told my sister."

Edgar became passionate, "You're not crazy for that at all!" He said with some gusto.

Alan raised his eyebrow at his brother.

"Well I feel like it. Between these crazy dreams and Mike waking me up every morning I haven't exactly been thinking straight. The other night was even crazier." Effie said keeping her voice down this time, aware of other people in the store.

"What happened?" Edgar said not able to contain himself.

"I'd rather not talk about it here so openly," She whispered. Edgar nodded.

"Alan, man the shop." He grunted as he leads Effie out of the store.

"Where are we going?" She asked

"You ate?" Edgar grunted again

"No,"

"Then we'll go get some food. Hotdogs?"

"Sure," Effie said rolling with the punches as she followed Edgar to a near by hotdog stand. They sat on the boardwalk.

"Tell me about the other night," Edgar said bluntly as they finished their hotdogs.

"Wow, straight to the point. I guess I see why people feel to put on the stop with me now," Effie laughed nervously.

"I just don't want you to think you're crazy. I'm not stupid, I know everyone thinks me and Alan are so you can get comfortable with me, seriously." Edgar said as kindly as he could muster.

"Ed, if I tell you then please don't repeat this, not to my sister. And especially not to Sam because I know he would go and tell my sister out of concern. They're both saints like that." She said seriously, looking Edgar in the eye. He nodded sincerely.

"I went to the doctors and got the sleeping pills. He said I could have some side effect like hallucinating and shit at first, but that it was rare. I didn't think much of it but when I got home and took it that night I saw something fucking scary dude, it was so real." Effie stopped and shuddered at the memory.

"Go on," Edgar said trying to be encouraging but sounding more like an impatient cop.

"I saw this guy sat in the tree at the back of my house. I went to look out my window and there he was! As clear as day. I freaked out and hid but when I went to look again, obviously thinking he would be gone if it wasn't real, he was still fucking there, dude! I just crawled back into bed but I can't tell you how creepy that was."

"Wow, sounds intense," Edgar said in deep thought

"That's not all though," Effie said, Edgar's eyes snapped back to her face.

"What else?" He said starting to get worried

"I heard this voice in my head, and I knew it wasn't my own. No way would I say something like that."

"What did the voice say?" Edgar said leaning across the table.

"Something like, I'll fly away for now go to sleep. I think." Effie said trying to remember exactly what was said.

Edgar dropped the last bite he had of his hotdog.

"What?" Effie said looking concerned at the expression on Edgar's face.

"Effie, you need to –" But then Edgar stopped himself.

 _This is fucking crazy,_ he thought, _I want to tell Effie the truth about everything but there's no way there has been a reason to yet. But if one of the vampires has found out about her and is already starting to hunt her down then I don't have much of a choice. It's for her own safety. I need to do something about this. Right now, isn't the time though, she wouldn't have any reason to believe me. I don't know what else I can do to keep her out of harms way without breaking my promise to Sam, unless –_

"Effie would you, uh, for fuck sake I'm shit at this," Edgar stuttered

"I need to would I what?" Effie asked confused but light-heartedly, "are you blushing or just turning red?" She laughed

"Would you go out with me sometime?" Edgar blurted out all at once before looking around to see if anyone heard.

Effie stopped laughing and became shocked. She sat stiff with her mind ticking away.

 _Did Edgar just ask me on a date?_ She thought _. I've legit never even considered this happening. I knew he got on with me better than most but I thought that was just because I like comics. Am I even attracted to him? I guess he's cute in the nerd sense._

"Sure," Effie said still shocked

Neither of the two knew how to respond to the scenario as they never even considered it would happen; at least Edgar didn't think of it happening so soon.

"Shall we get back to the store?" Edgar said getting up a little too quickly

"Yeah, lets," Effie said quickly, following him all the way back.

Alan was stood, as true as ever, manning the shop. Not even aware of the awkward encounter. Effie thought that was enough unpredictability for that day and decided to head off.

"I guess I should get going now. You have my number right, Ed? Just call me whenever you want to – yknow…" She said vaguely, aware of Alan's hawk-like eye.

"Yeah, yeah, for sure. I'll definitely do that, at some point." Edgar said stuttering. "see ya"

Effie smiled and walked away, almost jogged away. She never experienced anything so awkward in her life. And what would Lottie and Sam think of it all? Would they go on double dates? Would they take couples holidays together? Wine tasting in Italy? She shook her head at her middle age thoughts and braced having to tell her sister and Sam what just happened. She knew for a fact Lottie would push the whole double date thing down her throat as her and Sam had yet to go on their first date. _Oh shoot, that's today!_ Effie thought. There was definitely going to be some interesting conversation at dinner that night.

 _ **End of Chapter 9**_


	10. Chapter 10: We owe you an apology

_**I just want to take the time to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who reads and reviews my story; they know who they are 3 It means a lot to me as a new writer. Your reviews definitely give me the drive and confidence to carry on, it would be 10x harder without your support. Any who, let's carry on with the story!**_

 _ **Chapter 10: We owe you an apology**_

The conversation at dinner was certainly eventful. Even Tracey was keen to know how Sam and Lottie got on, considering she and Lucy were best friends now. Tracey put the last bit of dinner on the table and immediately dived into the gossip.

"So, how was it Charlotte? Did you two get on?" Tracey said over her salad

"Of course, we "got on" we're like really good friends, mum." Lottie said laughing

"She means romantically, dim-wit." Effie said with a mouthful of chicken.

"Ohh, yeah I was a little nervous. We held hands, that's it." Lottie said going bright red.

"how cute!" Tracey said in full support of the situation, "he's a little on the strange side but he's a good boy isn't he, you could definitely do a lot worse around here, honey."

"So where did you end up going?" Effie asked, still with a mouthful of chicken but Tracey was too absorbed in her other daughter's love life to chastise her for it.

"Just down to the beach. I know you really wanted to go down there together but it's just where we ended up. Just went to the boardwalk and walked around aimlessly." Lottie said a little sad that she couldn't take her sister to the beach first.

"Judas," Effie mumbled still eating her chicken

"Don't listen to your sister, honey, you're not joined at the hip." Tracey said as she shot a look at Effie.

"we did have a great time and I guess we're going out again next week sometime." Lottie said blushing again, she hadn't even started eating her chicken. Tracey turned her attention to her other daughter.

"I thought you would have turned some heads by now, Elizabeth. You're usually so out going." Tracey said prodding her other daughter to start revealing her secrets.

"Well I have definitely turned someone's head but I can't say if it's in the right way yet," she snorted as she remembered the awkward situation with Edgar that afternoon.

"Well you've kept quiet about a boy for once," Tracey chirped

"Yeah, quiet." Lottie said eyeballing her sister as if to say bitch when did you plan on telling me.

"Well it only happened today, guys. I didn't even know it was going to occur." Effie shrugged, Lottie immediately knew it must be something to do with Edgar.

"So, who is this boy?" Tracey chirped again.

"It's definitely someone who fits into the scene around here," Lottie laughed, even Effie couldn't take that as a personal insult as she knew exactly what she was getting herself into. It was Edgar after all.

"Edgar Frog asked me on a date today, out of nowhere and I was just like, yeah, ok." Effie said bluntly as she carried on eating her food.

"Finally," Lottie said as if she knew the whole thing was inevitable

"What do you mean? Even I wasn't expecting this so how would you know so much?" Effie said looking at her sister suspiciously.

"Sam and I just thought- "Lottie started, but Effie cut her off.

"Ohh, so it's 'Sam and I' now, what are you married?" Effie laughed, a little too hard at how middle aged her sister had sounded. Lottie blushed harder.

"Obviously not! We were just discussing how – "

"Discussing things, now are we? When's the baby due?" Effie kept laughing

"Shut the hell up and let me finish!" Lottie moaned, Tracey scolded Effie.

"Calm down, now Elizabeth. There's no need to mock them."

"Them!? Since when is Sam apart of everything?" Effie said now sounding more annoyed at all the defence around her sister's new love life.

"Just listen. Sam knows Edgar really well, obviously, and he could just tell that there was something there, for Edgar at least. I didn't actually think there was any way in the universe if it was up to you but apparently even I can get you wrong sometimes." Lottie said

"Sam wins whatever bet you had going on then." Effie said rolling her eyes "I just said yes because I'm ready to get out there, I've been in Santa Carla for like over a month now and I haven't even seen it yet. Edgar knows the place, we can have some fun together,"

"Not too much fun I hope," Tracey said raising her eyebrow at Effie. She had heard too much of her daughter's love life in the past to want to hear it again all the way out here.

Effie just shrugged her shoulders and finished her dinner.

"What about work mum, how's that going?" Lottie asked nervously, to break the tension.

"It's fine, a bit boring. If Lucy wasn't there I couldn't cope with it." She said fondly of Lucy

"Where is it again?" Effie asked, another fact in her memory bank.

"Max's video store down on the Boardwalk." Tracey said collecting the dirty plates and putting them into the sink.

"How's he?" Effie asked curiously

"He's fine, I think he's been a bit ill lately – "

"I mean as a person," Effie cut off her mum bluntly "How is he as a person, does he treat you with respect?"

"Oh, yes, definitely. He spends more time with Lucy though. I think there's something going on there." Tracey said slyly

"Everyone's winning around here when it comes to relationships." Lottie said casually

"we're not onto actual commitments, yet are we?" Effie poked her sister.

"No! But you don't know where it could end up." Lottie said with her voice trailing off at the thought of where it COULD end up.

The next week the dreams returned. The horrifying nightmares that made Effie want to claw her brain out of her head forever just for some reprieve. Her sleeping tablets were definitely keeping her asleep but this meant no waking escape from the dreams. Effie was so aware of her dreams she would even question if it was real, it was becoming more and more vivid. She knew she was asleep when they were happening and she tried so hard to wake up that she cried at the amount of effort it took to do it when she finally did wake up. It was like a thick darkness was pressing down on her as she slept and wouldn't let her escape the hallucinations.

The thing she always saw on her window ledge screaming at her started moving closer. It moved across the room to the side of her bed, to right next to her face. Every night the creature moved closer and broke her down a little bit more. Its features looked less distorted and more real, she could even make out the shape of the eyes and how human the vampire really looked; despite its jagged appearance. It was extremely tall and turned darker with every night it came to her window.

Lottie could even swear it started whispering to her. She couldn't make out what was being said as it still sounded demonic and hostile but it almost became clearer as time went on. _There is no way I'm dreaming this thing is trying to talk to me_ , she thought as she started pacing before bed one night _. I can't keep taking these tablets after what they've done to me, no way is a full night's sleep worth this torment. I need to go back to the doctors or something. I looked in a thesaurus and found sleep paralysis is a thing, a demonic like creature that makes you feel suffocated in your sleep. Maybe it's a mental thing and not a sleep deprivation thing._

The more Effie was in her own head, the more riled up she got about her situation. What could she do and who could she turn to? She couldn't blame Mike anymore and there was no way she wanted to worry her family. Financial troubles were more worrying than some nightmares. The only other crazy person she could think to talk to was Edgar, like he said, he and Alan are strange and everyone knows it, and he did say she could be comfortable with him whatever was going on. And he didn't think she was crazy for it anyway.

Effie creeped downstairs to the phone and to her surprise saw Lottie already there.

"What are you doing?" She whispered to Lottie.

"On the phone to Sam, aren't you supposed to be knocked out in sleep or something?" She whispered back, putting her hand over the receiver.

"Well go away, I need to ring Edgar."

"At this time of night?"

"You're the one already here." Effie said folding her arms, "And all our phone bill is you, it's my turn." Effie said forcing her sister to hang up on Sam.

"What do you and Ed even have to talk about at this time of night?" Lottie asked.

"I could say the same to you but if you must know it's about our date."

"Good luck then," Lottie said passively as she went up the stairs to bed.

Effie dialled Edgar's number which was on the back of the vampires everywhere comic she picked up and she thought she best ring him considering it's been a whole week since she even agreed to the date. She started to think he wasn't even interested anymore.

"Edgar and Alan's hunting services," A groggy voice said at the other end of the phone.

"It's Effs."

"Oh, shit, hey" Edgar said with more life in his voice, "the hunting thing is a joke, we get a lot of cold callers." He said in an attempt to save himself, but Effie wasn't even bothered.

"I need to talk to you urgently. It's about the nightmares, they're so bad, Ed."

There was a pause. "It's not safe for you to come down here right now," he said bluntly

"I wasn't suggesting that. I just need to talk about it."

"When?" he asked.

"Well now would be good but I guess we could make this first date of yours about my mental state." She said satirically

"Oh yeah, the date."

"I thought you would forget. No big deal, although you were the one who blurted it out." Effie said a little disheartened.

"I didn't forget, I'm just not used to talking on the phone, especially not to ask someone out."

"It's whatevs," She said trying to act aloof and reminding herself that she was acting a lot like Mike.

"Well, we could go somewhere tomorrow night? The store will be open during the day"

"I thought you said to walk around in groups at night?" Effie questioned.

"Yeah you, not me. I'll be fine. You'll be fine, with me – I mean." He stuttered.

"My hero" She said drily but thinking it was kind of sweet how he was so unpolished at the idea of taking any girl out. Definitely not her usual date scenario.

"Come by the store at 7pm, we can shut up early. I'll see you then." Edgar said and then hung up the phone before Effie could even say goodbye.

Effie headed down to Frog's comics and could already see that Edgar had shut up shop at 7pm sharp. _At least he has punctuality_ , Effie thought as she walked over. She didn't know how to greet Edgar considering it was a date situation. Usually Effie prided herself on being charming on a first date but she knew Edgar had little to no experience and she couldn't be her usual self; she didn't even know how she felt about the date itself.

"Hey," She said as if she was walking into the store to check out the comics as usual

"Hey, want a hotdog?" Edgar grunted

"We always go for hotdogs. Let's do something else for a change." She said already thinking this was going to be uneventful.

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"I think we should head down to the beach, I haven't even checked it out in the whole time I've been here and Lottie and Sam went without me." Effie said still annoyed at her sister.

"Sure, I don't mind the beach" Edgar nodded as she started walking away, then he back tracked and held his arm out for Effie.

"What the fuck are you doing?" She asked extremely amused. Edgar didn't know what the problem was.

"My arm? So I can take you to the beach."

"It's the 80's not the 1880's" Effie laughed her head off as Edgar dropped his arm.

"I guess so" He said, but extremely embarrassed on the inside.

Both of them headed down to the beach and decided to keep the awkward conversation at bay by talking about how much Effie loves the sea and how she is a proper beach girl. Edgar wasn't as keen on the beach but wasn't going to say no. Both of them sat on the sand and Effie decided it was time to talk about her worries.

"So, the dreams are getting more real" She said reluctantly, "Last night was one of the worst and I don't think these tablets are helping them."

"Just stop taking the tablets then." Edgar suggested

"I need them to sleep though,"

"I'm out of ideas then" He sighed. Effie rolled her eyes thinking this whole date was a waste of time.

"Y'know what's strange? I was reading vampires everywhere and it was saying how they can like control your mind and things and for a moment I thought maybe the vampire is real and just controlling me" Effie laughed nervously at her childish theory. Edgar didn't look so amused though.

"Stranger things have happened," He said vaguely but his heart growing in palpitations. He hadn't thought of the possibility of them actually controlling Effie.

"Yeah, I guess. It's not like a voice in my dreams can really send me to sleep, right?" She said as if she was genuinely serious, in a way she was.

"Right," Edgar said in a not very comforting way.

"So what's with asking me on a date anyhow? You never told me." Effie said trying to put her childish embarrassment of almost believing a dream vampire could control her to bed.

Edgar shifted in his seat.

"I just think we needed to get to know each other without everyone else being around." He said as kindly as he could but once again sounding too brash. He didn't even know why he did. He knew Effie's best bet of safety was to be with him but he couldn't be there all the time. Then there was the part of him that thought it was too dangerous for her to be with him at all, but if his suspicions were correct then Effie would stand no chance of defending herself without him telling her the truth so for now it was just best to roll with the punches and date.

"Lottie really enjoyed her date with Sam. They'll end up together, I know they will." Effie laughed half-heartedly at her sister's success since moving to Santa Carla in comparison to how she was suffering. How tables have turned.

"Good for them. Hopefully we can carry on as we are," Edgar said hopefully

"How are we now?" Effie asked curiously

"Well, you agreed to come on a date with me so I guess we are dating, right?"

Effie thought about it more a minute and she couldn't really argue when presented with the facts. She was asked out and here she was on a beach with the only person she was being honest with and who was trying to help her.

"Yeah, we're dating," Effie decided, Edgar was relieved at the fact as he knew now it was going to be easier to keep up protecting her in ignorance, for now.

"I'll be straight with you, I don't really know how to help with your sleeping situation." Edgar said honestly

"Can't I just stay with you and Alan if I need to? The house I'm living in freaks me out too much some nights." Effie said bluntly

"no!" Edgar said in a panic, Effie raised her eyebrow at him. "It's not cool with my parents, not really used to guests,"

"I could just sneak in?" Effie suggested, Edgar admired her adventurous spirit but his place was too close to the truth of what Santa Carla really was and then his cover would be blown.

"Seriously, not a good idea. Just respect that." He said trying to be severe but secretly disappointed at the fact he needed to turn her down.

"Okay, okay I guess that option is off the list then." Effie said mildly pissed off.

Just then a roaring sound was heard coming up the beach. Effie looked up and could see lights in the distance and people jumping out of the way. Edgar's heart started palpitating again.

"We should go now, it's getting abit loud around here," He said getting up and trying to grab Effie with him.

"Wait a minute," She said getting up but not moving with Edgar, she put her hand up to her eyes to try and get a better look of the lights.

"We really should go," Edgar argued back

"Piss off, Ed." Effie said with force as she swatted him out of her view. "I think that's who Lottie was on about,"

"What?" Edgar said nervously

"That's Mike too! I was right, it's Mike's friends. Those people he hangs around with, the bikers." Effie said excitedly as she turned to Edgar, but his face wasn't as delighted.

They were fast approaching.

"Effie, don't be crazy. Move!" Edgar said trying to pull her out of the line of the bikes racing up the beach.

"No, they can move for me. The bastards." She said with venom in her voice, now she could see why Mike was such a dick these days.

"You don't need to prove a point to Mike, Effs. Get out the fucking way!" Edgar said trying to pull her but she got free and went back to the line of the bikers.

Mike could see someone stood in the way of the bikes and he quickly realised who it was. _Oh, shit_. He thought as he remembered the morning he almost ran her over. He knew she wouldn't move. He looked to his friends who didn't show any signs of stopping.

"Effie! Move out of the fucking way!" Mike signalled as he waved her with his arm.

"You fucking move!" She shouted back putting a middle finger up at all of the gang.

"Who is this psycho chick?" Paul asked Michael.

"Does she have a death wish?" Marko smiled as he laughed at Michael.

Mike was too consumed with moving Effie. She was stood right in front of Marko's bike and he was crazy, he would run her over for sure. Mike had no choice. He saw Edgar push and pull with her but it wasn't working. Mike raced to the front of the group in the hope to knock Marko's bike out of the way just before he ran Effie down. Before Mike knew it, both of their bikes were knocked down. A pile up ensued as the rest of the gang pulled to a stop. Mike looked up. Dwayne was calmly looking over Mike and Marko as David pulled up at the side of him. Effie was stood in the same place looking at everyone else and Edgar came and stood in front of her.

"What the fuck, Dwayne?" Marko screeched as he got himself and his bike up, but not before kicking Mike off of him.

"You were going to run her down." Dwayne said calmly.

"So?" Marko argued back, poking him in the chest. Dwayne didn't react.

"We don't need any trouble," he said with calmness again but sterner this time. He stepped towards Marko whilst never taking his gaze off of him.

"I was just going to have abit of fun, what's your problem?" Marko sulked as he backed down from Dwayne. He was second in command and Marko was at the bottom of the clan, no way was he going to push it.

"What's the fuss, ladies?" David mocked as he got between Marko and Dwayne.

"I was just going to have a bit of fun, David. Tell mr. killjoy it wasn't a big deal!" Marko said desperately, David was the leader and he was always a little braver when David got involved but there was no standing behind him this time.

"Dwayne's right, we don't need any trouble." David responded, backing Dwayne. Marko walked away from them sulking.

Michael looked around to see where Effie was and he saw Edgar dragging her up the beach.

"Not going to see if your new friend is okay, Michael?" David asked in his usual mocking tone

"She's fine, it's no big deal," He said worrying David would try and get her involved and he was right.

"I think we owe your friend an apology." David smiled as he turned to look at Effie.

 _ **End of chapter 10**_


	11. Chapter 11: With you, not against you

_**Chapter 11: with you, not against you**_

"Hey" David shouted across the beach to Effie.

Effie looked at the gang and looked to Edgar.

"I need to go and speak to Mike" She said urgently, Edgar tried his best not to lose his shit for fear of giving everything away.

"You don't want to talk to any of them, seriously. They're nothing but trouble." Edgar tried to reason with her, knowing it wouldn't work.

"I want to know who these people are. It's like I'm missing something around here." Effie argued

"You're not missing anything!" Edgar shouted losing his patience

"If you want to leave so bad then just piss off and leave me to my own decisions!" Effie shouted even louder. Edgar let go of her hand and started to walk away; letting his anger get the best of him. He looked back and saw Effie race down the beach towards Mike. Maybe she was a lost cause after all and there was nothing he could do. He couldn't keep man handling her away from every danger.

Effie could see the boys wait for her expectantly. They were all leaning against their bikes but Mike looked extremely nervous as he talked to the one with bright blonde hair. Soon he saw Effie making her way down and ran to meet her.

"Effie what the fuck were you playing at?" Mike asked angrily

"What the fuck are YOU playing at? Is this what you get up to, Mike? Terrorising people on the beach. I thought you were supposed to be sorting whatever your problem was?" Effie shot back as she eyed up Mike's so-called friends.

"Keep your voice down!" He whispered loudly

"Why? Afraid of being embarrassed in front of your cool buds? I'm sick of this shit." Effie said with force as she started walking towards the gang.

"Just go back to your little friends and next time move out of the way!" Mike tried to say sincerely but it came across as patronising as Effie flipped him off and kept walking away. Effie walked straight up to David.

"Well, hello there, Effie, is it?" David said with a charming tone to his voice, even Effie couldn't deny how inviting ite sounded. She was almost taken back by it.

"And who the fuck are you?" She said refusing to fall for the charm.

David tutted. "That language isn't very becoming of a young lady now, is it" He said making Paul and Marko howl in the background.

"Your attempts to be charming aren't very becoming of a pathetic loser now, is it?" Effie shot back. Paul and Marko howled even lounder and David laughed under his breath as he turned his head away trying to hide his anger.

"Effie has a little fight in her boys!" David shouted towards his gang. He looked back at Effie, "What are you doing standing in front of moving bikes, little girl?"

Effie scoffed and laughed patronisingly at David's attempt to save face.

"I wanted to see how bad ass you really were for myself, but clearly, I was mistaken." Effie said sarcastically, eyeing up David. Marko stopped laughing and became passionate at the remark.

"I was going to run you down, girl! Don't be mistaken." Marko said walking towards Effie. She laughed at the sight before her.

"And you're what? Their personal male stripper? Put a shirt on, dude." Effie said rolling her eyes and pushing him away with her hand as Marko tried to square up to her.

Mike came and stepped Marko back away from Effie.

"Looks like I'm hitting some raw nerves, boys." She said laughing

"Shut the fuck up Effie and go home." Mike said walking back to his bike with Marko.

"Don't be such an indecent friend Michael." David said with his sly voice.

"What would you care?" Mike said under his breath but David didn't hear him as he turned his attention back to Effie who was stood staring at them all with an amused look on her face. But then she caught sight of the tall and dark one stood in the background, he appeared equally as observant.

"See something you like?" David mocked as he turned to follow Effie's gaze and saw Dwayne. His face dropped either out of ego deflation at the fact it wasn't him or realising he no longer had her full attention.

Effie took a few steps towards Dwayne who was stood looking at the ocean, completely disregarding of the previous scene. He felt her gaze and turned to look at her. There was something in her eyes. Effie lifted a finger towards Dwayne, concentrating really hard.

"Do I know you?" Effie asked quietly but sincerely.

All the other boys turned towards Dwayne and Effie and the laughing of Paul and Marko ceased. Dwayne didn't speak at first, he just continued to watch Effie.

"I feel like I know you." Effie said with more self-assurance this time, prompting Dwayne to speak.

"You don't know me," He said in his deep and smooth voice. It was almost like honey to Effie's ears, if voices could be honey that is. She could imagine him reading poetry. She shook her head at her thoughts and laughed off her mistake.

"You seem so familiar to me," She said again embarrassed, "Sorry, I got it wrong obviously,"

She couldn't take her gaze away from his. Dwayne took a step towards her and for some reason the song from Effie's favourite Disney film, sleeping beauty, once upon a dream started going off in her head. _Now is not the time for Disney shit_ , she thought. She was already embarrassed, the way Dwayne looked at her made her feel more self-conscious than she has ever felt.

"Don't worry about it," He said in a low voice before stepping back towards his bike and turning away from the conversation. Effie was left dangling, literally pining for more of an interaction with him. He was so distant and chilled about what was going on and usually Effie would push the situation but this guy made her feel strange inside.

"This is our good friend, Dwayne." David said walking over to them and slapping a hand on Dwayne's back – which Dwayne didn't respond to. He kept looking at the sea.

"I'm Elizabeth." She said talking to Dwayne's back. David chuckled and patted Dwayne on the back a few times before walking over to Effie.

"Well that was the nicest introduction we've had from you all night," David remarked with a smile on his face. Effie noted how he always looked like he was constantly plotting something or like he had hidden motives he was waiting to act upon; even the way he moved seemed sly and right under your nose.

"Thank you for not letting these idiots run me down," Effie said to Dwayne again, still completely ignoring David, Dwayne turned his head to her and nodded.

"It's cool," he said.

Effie thought the other folks of Santa Carla were vague but this guy was something else.

"Effie you should really get going now." Mike said a little nicer this time, he knew he wouldn't get anywhere with Effie if he was just shouting at her but little did she know that, once again, it was for her own safety.

"Yeah Effie, come home. Leave these dicks to their shitty games." Edgar said from behind Effie, no one even noticed him walk back up the beach.

Edgar had got back to the boardwalk and looked back to see Effie having to contend with the gang and he felt bad for leaving her. His anger would push his common sense out some times. _What the fuck are you thinking, Ed? The whole point of tonight was to keep her safe and you let her walk off to those murderers. He thought._ But then there was another conflicting side of him, maybe his anger, that would make things so much harder to deal with. _She's a hard-headed bitch sometimes though, and you're not her babysitter. If she wants to get herself killed whose fault is it really?_

Edgar had a hard-inner decision to make but before he knew it he was running back down the beach. He knew Effie wasn't stupid enough to climb onto the back of Mike's bike and run off with them but he didn't know what these guys had planned for her. Why did they stop? Why were they talking to her? He knew why Effie wanted to prove a point but he didn't know the motives of David, then again, who did? The gang had made contact with her and that was bad enough but it could lead anywhere. And Edgar knew in his heart that it wouldn't be the end and he couldn't keep everything quiet forever.

Edgar didn't think the reception he would receive from Effie would be good but he had hoped she would be pleased to see him. Instead she scowled at him and backed away.

"What the fuck are you doing back here? Come to physically force me away again?" She said sarcastically, Edgar's face dropped even more.

"No, I just came to see if you wanted to come home. If you don't then that's your decision but I didn't want to end the night in anger." Edgar said trying to ignore the looks of the gang, especially Marko and Paul.

"I guess I'm done with these jokes anyway." Effie said looking at all the boys but when she saw Dwayne looking at her fully now, she knew she didn't put him in the same category as the rest of them, he saved her after all. "Not you, dude. You did me a favour so thank you." She nodded to him and smiled. The corner of Dwayne's mouth twitched up a little bit, Effie didn't know if this was a smile or a smirk but she turned away from all the boys and headed towards Edgar.

"Until next time," David said menacingly as he signalled for all the boys to get back on their bikes.

"And next time get out of my way unless you want to be roadkill," Marko shouted as he revved his bike.

Paul's laughter pierced the air as all the boys took back off down the beach as fast as sound could travel, leaving a trail of sand and confusion behind them. Effie was pissed off she couldn't get the last word in with Marko but she was too distracted to fully care anyway. Mike gave one last look behind him to Effie and she just started at him as he rode away.

Effie started power walking back up the beach, trapped in her own head at what had just happened. It all seemed so quick but it felt like forever. She was just captivated by the one called Dwayne and she couldn't wait to tell Lottie how she had finally met them. She almost forgot Edgar came back for her as he jogged up to the side of her and got her to stop in her tracks.

"Hey, what happened?" He asked worriedly.

"Why did you come back?" Effie said completely ignoring his attempts to show he cared.

"Like I said, I didn't want to end the night in anger. It was supposed to be our first date." He said honestly, he really didn't want to leave Effie thinking he would abandon her.

"Well you can't say it wasn't eventful," Effie said sarcastically and started picking up her pace again, Edgar didn't know how to make amends for this one.

"I came back for you," Edgar insisted

"I didn't ask you to," Effie shot back.

"I wanted to, because I wouldn't have actually just ditched you, I wanted you to know that,"

"Well now I know so thanks a lot," Effie said showing no sings of stopping.

Edgar started getting frustrated, this girl was hard to deal with. He started to remember why he took solace in his comic book store so much.

"Obviously you didn't ask me to but I know you would have wanted me to," Edgar said more severely starting to get annoyed at Effie's self-righteous nature.

"Oh, so you came back because I would have wanted you to? So you didn't really come back because you didn't want to leave it in a bad place?" Effie said sarcastically turning towards him.

"Stop fucking twisting my words, it's literally the same thing. Both reasons is why I came back. Why don't you just chill for once?" Edgar said raising his voice, "Why are you trying to make me look like an ass hole?" he said putting both his hands up in confusion.

Effie sighed and went to sit on a near by bench. She didn't know why she was giving Ed such a hard time – she did tell him to leave her to her own decisions after all. The whole thing with the secrets and the people around Santa Carla were seriously starting to catch up to her and now she was taking it out on the guy she was supposed to be dating.

"I didn't mean to twist anything, Ed. I'm just so tired of everything around here already, like I said, I still feel like there is something to this place and everyone knows but me. It's so fucked up around here and I can't deal with it," Effie said looking up at Edgar who was standing over her, "I act on impulse, especially when I'm confused." 

"Is that an apology?" Edgar said a little more tender

"You're not good at apologising either, you're getting better at it though," Effie laughed a little reluctantly.

Edgar couldn't hold a grudge to Effie. She was right in saying there was something going on that she didn't know about and with her perceptive nature not being able to pick up on it, she felt out of her comfort zone. She was looking for answers in all the right places but the situation was oh so wrong. He guessed she was used to getting things right but everywhere she turned in Santa Carla was a dead end in her mission to find out what it was. Edgar was so scared of the time something would tip her off and she would find out. What would happen then?

"It's cool Effs. I know this place is fucked up and it can get to anyone. But that doesn't mean you don't need at least try and stop taking your shit out on me. I'm here to work with you, not against you." Edgar said sitting next to her on the bench, he wondered if he should put his arm around her or something but he still wasn't feeling brave enough; despite how much ice the previous events of the night had broken between them. They were awkward enough as friends never mind the dates.

"I know I do. I really didn't plan on any of this to happen but when I saw Mike I just needed to get him to stop and talk to me. I was just filled with so much anger when I saw him come down that beach, all those people jumping out their way and screaming, like they were something to be feared. That isn't the image of Mike I had at all in my head, not from the way Sam talks about him. And Mike told me himself he was going to sort out his problems but clearly he has no intention of doing that," Effie sighed and looked down at the ground in defeat.

"I know Sam's our friend and you want to help him but you need to leave their problems to themselves. You can't just move here and try to get involved in something that Sam hasn't even been able to solve for 11 months." Edgar said honestly, Effie needed to stop inviting trouble in. He also hoped to hit a moral nerve which would make Effie stop her little investigations.

"Me finding out about Mike had nothing to do with him and Sam" Effie said sounding a little harsh, "it was because of my insomnia, and I blamed Mike for it and I just wanted a reason as to why he kept waking me up. But, come to think of it, even though I'm sleeping these weird dreams are still getting worse. I spent so much time hating Mike for it, I actually misplaced my anger." Effie said sadly, Edgar had never seen her look so repentant at something she had done. It was kind of strange, he expected to be moved by the regret she was displaying but it was actually so out of character for Effie he felt a little uncomfortable.

"You sound like your sister," was all he could say

"And we're back to Edgar, the man of many words," Effie laughed, she was too sad to be meaner to anyone else tonight.

"Well like I said earlier tonight, I don't know how to help with those dreams of yours, maybe just stop with those tablets, they're fucking you up," Edgar suggested.

"I'll stop taking them tonight, thanks Ed. And I do appreciate tonight and what you do for me," She said a little embarrassed but Edgar took the compliment.

"We should head back, I'll walk you home." Edgar said offering his hand out to Effie.

"So do you think you'll ask me on a second date?" Effie questioned as she walked from the boardwalk with Edgar, she noticed she didn't let go of his hand.

"Of course, there might be more drama in the next one." Edgar chuckled.

"oh, look it's my mum," Effie said stopping Edgar in his tracks.

"She works at Max's video store?" he questioned

"Yeah Lucy got her the job, let's go, nothing will be going on in there,"

Edgar and Effie continued to walk away and Edgar turned to look behind him and could see Max, the owner of the store, stare him down as he walked away.

 _ **End of Chapter 11**_


	12. Chapter 12: Home Invasion

***Chapter 12 - Home Invasion

After many months I would like to announce the return of Translucent!

Hopefully this chapter carries on the rest of the quirky story in the best way possible. Sorry for any long delays but we are back and we are ready!

Lottie lay awake, she had been at home on her own for hours as her mom was at work and her sister was out on her first date with the Frog. She and Sam had one of their many phone conversations that night, and he was just on his way around. Considering there was no one in the house and that the relationship was going so well - they decided to take the next step.

Lottie was so shy. She wished at times like these she could hone her sister's confidence, but instead she was playing in her mind what Sam would think of her after this happened. She wondered if her sister would have done something like this quicker, she had done in the past. But Lottie had never done this before. After so much time self-evaluating in the mirror, Lottie could hear Sam knock on the back door. She went to let him in.

He was stood patiently, Lottie thought this was a good sign considering it was sex on the cards and Sam was doing an excellent job of not seeming over eager.

"Hi there," Lottie giggled nervously, knowing what they had just spoken about on the phone ten minutes prior.

Sam was a bit confused at the piousness all of a sudden.

"Hey, what's up with you? Don't act like you've never seen me before," He laughed.

Sam, once again, was not known for his cunning intellect, as Effie would constantly say. But Lottie didn't mind this, it was a good reason to not drag out how she felt.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just a little nervous, as most people would be - I hope," she thought to herself as she led Sam upstairs.

"I see," Sam laughed nervously, now he was starting to blush.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have only done this once," Sam tried to offer his help but Lottie had realised she had never even discussed Sam's sexual past with him and now she was realising she did not want to know.

"Oh, that's okay, I haven't done this at all but thanks for trying to help the situation, at least one of us kind of knows what's going on," Lottie smiled to herself at Sam's attempt to calm her, once again, not known for his cunning intellect, she would hear Effie say in her head.

Eventually, Effie and Edgar made it back to Effie's house after a long walk and discussion of why Edgar was acting so weird about Tracey working in Max's video store.

"It's not like she had much choice, Ed, the woman was lying to us about having a job for months before getting help from Lucy," Effie said in self defence at Edgar's pleas.

"You have to tell her to get another job, the guy is a serious creep, even ask Sam!" Edgar said, trying to work his way back into holding Effie's hand, which had slipped away during their debate.

"You can't just come into my house and tell a grown woman what to do with her life, maybe you're the one who is creepy and not this Max guy," Effie laughed as she rattled around for the front door keys in her jean pocket.

Edgar shrugged his shoulders, it was just going to make the whole mystery even harder to keep under wraps if her mom was now working with the master of the problem.

"I hear you Effs, but this is some serious advice from a serious -" Edgar was cut off by Effie.

"If you actually stand there in front of me and refer to yourself as a serious guy then who are you and what have you done with froggy?" Effie laughed as she walked into her living room and turned on the light. Edgar stood in the doorway and considered what Effie said.

"You're right once again, how can I be serious? All I do is have a serious business during the day and work hard to protect the people of Santa Carla," Edgar said as he moped around the living room.

"How do you protect the people?" Effie laughed maniacally at the idea of Edgar seeing himself as some super hero from their comics.

Edgar turned all serious for a moment, he looked at Effie and then turned off the light. In one flash, Effie could no longer see Edgar's confusing and imposing face. Effie couldn't tell if he was playing around or not.

"Ed, where the hell are you and what are you doing?" Effie whispered, she could hear breathing right behind her,

"Here," Edgar whispered sharpley into her ear, making Effie jump.

"You fucker! It's pitch black and you go sneaking up on me, hey, remember that time when we did attack each other in the dark and -"

"Shhh" Edgar said, cutting Effie off, "I can hear something creaking upstairs, you locked the door didn't you?"

"You saw me unlock it dumbass, it was definitely locked." Effie said sarcastically thinking this was just another of Edgar's games that he over thought too much.

"And what about the back door?" Edgar whispered

"To be honest, I never think too much of the back door, we don't really use it, the only person who uses it is Lottie when she lets Sam in when mom is asleep." Effie said, contemplating whether Lottie would be stupid enough to leave it open in a place like Santa Carla.

"We need to move out, quietly," Edgar said as he dropped and rolled to the living room door, checking the area before letting Effie know it was safe to follow, Effie just followed, not wanting to play his game but also worried at the idea of a home invasion.

They made it to the kitchen.

"Check the door, Ed," Effie pointed towards the back door.

Edgar twisted the handle and it was open, Effie wondered if her sister was in the house.

"Shit!" Effie gasped, making Edgar jump ten feet in the air and spin around with a karate chop ready to take someone out.

"What!" Edgar gasped back, "Are you okay, Effs?"

"Yeah but I don't know if my sister went out or not, she said she was staying in tonight and I haven't heard her since we came in now that I think about it, what if whoever broke in has her?" Effie said, getting ready to fight whoever came into the house and took her twin.

She grabbed a big carving knife from the kitchen draw, and supplied Ed with a knife nearly as big.

"I can hear the creaks now," Effie said as she and Ed made their way to the hall near the bottom of the stairs, "it actually sounds as if it's coming from Lottie's room, we need to get up there!" Effie said, but Edgar grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her back from running up the stairs.

"Wait! You can't just go bursting up there, it's all about the element of surprise," Edgar whispered.

"Oh, what, like the time you threw bulbs of garlic at me?" Effie questioned slightly amused at his nerve.

"This is different, this could be a real intrusion and we need to take precautions," Edgar said with an air of authority which Effie found even more amusing.

"Sir, yes sir," Effie said sarcastically.

Edgar felt a weird twitch.

"Is it weird that I kind of like it when you call me sir?" Edgar said curiously.

Effie turned to look at Edgar with a mixture of disbelief and shock.

"Someone could be up there holding my sister hostage and you're talking about what weird sexual kinks you possibly have?" Effie said with a little break of amusement in her face.

Edgar cleared his throat, "you're right, let's get up there and get that bastard out of your house, follow my lead,"

Edgar went creeping up the stairs and Effie followed behind, carving knife at the ready. They reached the top of the stairs and could hear the weird creaks coming from Lottie's room.

"It sounds like someone is tip toeing around in there, possibly looking for valuables, the floorboards are creaking away," Edgar whispered ever so quietly in Effie's ear as they both edged towards Lottie's room.

"I think i can hear a muffled voice, they have her in there!" Effie gasped a little loudly.

"They probably have a gag on her to stop her screaming while they raid the place. Now, we need to burst in there, now is the element of surprise time, they're cornered and we have knives. No holding back, Effs. Roger that?" Edgar whispered.

"Roger," Effie said.

"On my count," Edgar said as the crouched outside of Lottie's bedroom door. Ed signalled a countdown, and when his fingers reached one, they both kicked in Lottie's door and charged at the captor.

Screams could be heard and confusion was in the air. Edgar ran at a man in the dark and tackled him to the ground.

"I've got him Effie!" Edgar shouted among the commotion as he pinned down the man who had invaded the house. Then he noticed something strange.

"The sick bastard is naked, Effie! I can feel his tiny dick flying around as he is trying to get away, but I got him!" Edgar shouted again, but he and the man he had pinned down were the only two shouting as the light came on.

Edgar looked down and could see Sam pinned to the floor, naked, underneath him. He looked up, silently, and could see Lottie in bed with the sheets pulled up right underneath her chin and Effie stood at the light switch bright red.

Effie burst out laughing hysterically.

"I can't believe this," Lottie said full of embarrassment, her face was that red you could have cooked your sunday dinner on it.

"Are you going to let me go anytime soon?" Sam asked Edgar, quietly.

Edgar moved as quick as a flash off of Sam and started wiping his hands on his jeans, then he too burst out laughing, as Effie was still rauchosing in the background, now on the floor propped up against the wall. Sam jumped back into Lottie's bed, joining her in covering himself with the sheets.

"Why the hell did you guys come in with knives like that? We thought you had come in to kill us!" Sam said, starting to get hysterical at the situation.

"Did you think Ed had finally achieved his mental breakdown?" Effie questioned, wiping away tears from her face from all the laugher.

"Dude, I am soo sorry, we came back and could hear weird noises and thought someone had broken in and was holding Lottie hostage." Edgar managed to squeeze out in between laughs.

"Do you really think I have a tiny dick?" Sam asked, a little self conscious.

"Let's not go there, it's just an expression," Ed said laughing.

"Can you both just get out of my room, we'll see you downstairs," Lottie shouted, still full of embarrassment.

"No worries, I'm heading home anyway, this was a great night," Edgar laughed as he walked out of Lottie's room with Effie following behind.

"I'll shut the door, because I'm considerate," Effie said sarcastically as she shut the door on Sam and Lottie's bright red, and confused, faces.

Effie and Ed went downstairs to the front door, still laughing a little every now and then when they realised yet another mistake had been made out of an innocent situation.

"We are good at embarrassment aren't we, Ed?" Effie said as she hugged him good bye.

"We sure are, hopefully date number two is just as fun. I'll call you, and don't take those stupid pills tonight, okay?" Edgar said as he made his way down the porch steps.

"Yes, sir," Effie winked as Edgar looked at her and have a smirk out of the corner of his mouth.


	13. Chapter 13: Hudson's Bluff

**Chapter 13 – Hudson's bluff**

The hauntings were still happening to Effie, even after she had listened to Edgar's advice and no longer took the pills. Some nights were getting better and she was untouched by torture, other nights were terrible. Somehow, she accepted how her life was now and just got on with her day to day life, dreading the dark when the rest of the world was at peace and hers was just blowing up into war.

The voice was getting stronger and taunting her every step of the way.

 _I know where you are._

 _I know who you are._

 _You do not know me._

She was forced to relive the last time she took the pills and could see some strange man in the trees behind her house. How could she ever sleep again? Out of curiosity, she would go to the window and look hard at the wilderness surrounding her house. She could even hear the slight break of the waves against the cliffs if it was a particularly quiet night. Other nights she could swear she had seen the silhouette of the demon she had seen before, but there was little memory of it every time. It was just shadows.

Over time Effie told Lottie about the night on the beach where she ran out in front of Mike's bike and met the whole gang of undesirables that were responsible for the change in Mike, according to Sam. Of course, she was met with a scolding and advise for the future by her sister, despite the fact Lottie was curious to know what it was all about. Effie had not seen Mike for the past month since that happened, she carried on dating Edgar and hanging around the boardwalk at night with her sister and Sam – with Alan occasionally tagging along. Lottie was finally getting comfortable with her surroundings and their mom seemed to be happy working with Lucy in the video store.

But this gave Effie chills. She could feel the foundations of routine slipping into their new life in Santa Carla and she could feel the onset of a strange anxiety take over her heart and her stomach at the thought of them perishing into the shells of locals that walked around the beach and the boardwalk in their nuanced existence. Just living day to day without question, just getting by to the next week. Just living for the nights, they could go to the fair and sit around the campfire with food and music on the beach. Be happy and accept their fate. But Effie was not accepting it. She was uneasy, unsettled, sick and disquieted at the scenes before her as she watched the people walking, running, dancing around as if this was all there was to Santa Carla, almost as if they were trying too hard to make Effie believe this was their reality and it was good and fun.

Many nights were spent at Edgar's store discussing her feelings and her fears. How she wanted to get a grip and take a hold of them but like there was a veil or something mysterious holding her back from the discovery she needed to make _. I feel it in my bones_ , she would say, _I don't know what's wrong with me_ , she would cry, _can you help me?_ She would plea. But all Ed could do was listen to her frustration, console her when she cried, and tell her that everything was going to be ok and agree that the world is not always what it appears to be on the surface. They shared a bond and a philosophy about the whole of Santa Carla, and that was the only thing that Effie could hang on to, to make her feel more at ease. Because, we can't really say better.

One of those bad nights where Sam dropped Effie off at the comic book store in the middle of the night because she couldn't sleep and was having a crisis, was a night that was near perilous. Effie was in bed with Edgar and was listening to the ticking of the clock and the snoring of Alan through the thin walls next door. Ed was in a pretty deep sleep and had a stack of comic books sprawled out on the floor next to his bed that he was reading before he dropped off and left Effie on her own. Effie could feel her body shutting down and could have sworn she was asleep.

She felt her legs move from underneath her and when she opened her eyes she was standing. Her legs carried her out of Edgar's room and down the stairs of the comic book shop. She went out the back of the store through the storage space and out onto the back street of the broad walk, there was a slight wind and a definite chill to the air as she hugged her over-sized sweater around her and could keep little warmth on the legs due to the pyjama shorts, she was wearing. She stood for a second before she would feel her body turn towards the direction of the beach, there was no one around at this time, usually some strays, but it wasn't safe either way.

 _What the hell am I doing? Why am I doing this?_ She tried to ask herself but it appeared not to compute in her actual brain. She knew she was trying to tell herself something but there was a block on if she could understand it. Like she was following the blind.

She felt the urge, so she just went.

After a few miles of walking along the beaches' edge, she realised she was heading to the very steepest cliffs of Santa Carla, the same ones she remembered observing on the drive to moving there so many months ago. _Hudson's bluff_ , she thought to herself. There was a light frequently washing over her from the light house located on the very top of the cliffs. These cliffs were life taking, so many people had dared to walk down the rocky path to the many caves that lay within the cliffs, and not many came back out alive. _But no one would go and investigate_ \- Sam said one day.

" _It's called Hudson's bluff because in the very early twentieth century, there was a guy, Mason, who built this huge ass hotel on top of the cliffs near the light house. The Atlantis, it was called. He invested all his money in it and when it opened, he made billions. People heard of how much the hotel was worth because of its location and the fortune that came with it. So, some guys, bad guys, probably big-time mafia, came and tried to take it over. The leader of this gang was called Hudson, no one knows his last name, and he posed as a rich customer and invited the guy who built the hotel into a poker game. They had a lot to drink, and Hudson spiked Mason's drink and as the gang held the hotel hostage, Hudson and some of his fellas lead old Mason down to some of the cliffs and held a gun to his head. Hudson forced Mason to give him the deed to the hotel, which he always carried with him, and he said they would spare his life. Mason handed the deed over, but Hudson shot him anyway and apparently his body went over the cliffs and washed away at sea. Hudson lied and got the hotel in the process, but the year after in 1909, the hotel sunk because of this massive ass earth quake that hit Santa Carla, it's pretty cool, I guess,"_ Sam had said.

Effie had followed her steps all the way to the edge of the Hudson's bluff cliff and was looking down at the sea battering the grey and crumbling rocks below, thinking if she would end up like old Mason. Thinking, does she want to end up like him? It would end the confusion and the suffering in her own head and stop her living the monotonous life of the locals she so feared. How much time had passed since she got here? Did it even matter anymore? She felt an overwhelming sense of loss and, at the same time, peace that there was an option right in front of her to get out of that cycle. Just as she took a step closer and was truly contemplating what her fate could be, she could feel someone watching her, she turned every so slightly to see the familiar silhouette she had seen so many times in the trees behind her house. Except, this time, she didn't really care, she could just jump.

 _Before you do, let me really look at you, not that scared face I have seen before._

The voice whispered as it beckoned for her to turn around, Effie didn't really want to, but the same force she felt lift her out of bed and bring her to Hudson's bluff had another grip on her and turned her around.

The shadow was just an outline of a very tall man. No demon face, no creepy voice. Just the actual silhouette. She observed the shadow and nodded silently at the prospect of her facing the thing that had been haunting her and accepting the fact that it may never stop, or, this could be the end of her tether.

"It's okay…" She managed to whisper to the strange shadow as she took a few steps back towards the edge of the cliff with a single tear running down her face. She doesn't know if this was her true decision, but whatever it was had buried itself deep and she wanted it to go away.

 _What did you just say?_

The voice asked in shock, sounding less mysterious and more humane.

Without questioning the tone of the unknown voice, Effie really was in a trance and too far gone to even think about the world anymore.

"I said, it's okay," She whispered once more, as she stepped back over the edge of the cliff.

Effie's body was hurtling fast towards the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. Facing upwards, she could see the pitch-black sky and the millions of stars that gave it light and the edge of the cliff her life had stepped away from. The waves were cold as the sound of the ocean was engulfing her ears as she came closer and closer to her end. Her mind was very sure she was near the endless abyss, and then she felt caught in something. Her eyes closed, still conscious, she could feel something surrounding her. It wasn't the jagged rocks she expected to fall on, even though it was still cold. But she couldn't open her eyes. She felt like she was soaring.

Effie woke up and felt her heart racing, as if she had just been sky diving. She was freezing cold and felt like she had been walking for miles. She opened her eyes and could see the sky and felt like she was on the ground, she was outside and laid near the cliffs.

"what the" – she groaned as she propped herself up on her elbow, attempting to sit up and look at her surroundings.

"What are you doing out here?" a voice asked, it sounded like honey.

Effie looked up and could see something blocking her view. A very tall man with long dark hair.

"It's you!" She stuttered as she managed to sit up, despite the sick feeling she had and her head spinning at the same rate as the planet she was on.

"Dwayne," The honey voice reminded her bluntly.

Effie looked up at his face, he regarded her very strangely. He looked at her as if she was some animal in a museum he had never seen before, yet was interested in knowing more about.

"Right, Dwayne, sorry," She said feeling a little embarrassed, he was the same one who saved her the night that fucktard Marko nearly ran her over.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked again, still stood solemnly over her as if he was on guard.

"What about you? Could ask you the same thing, as far as classic lines go," Effie said with slight irony in her voice.

"I was taking a ride," Dwayne said, nonchalantly pointing with a thumb to his bike a few feet away.

"And what? Decided to come and investigate?" Effie laughed a little, trying to kneel now.

"Kind of." Dwayne shrugged his shoulders.

"God, you're one of them," Effie shook her head.

"One of what?" Dwayne asked daringly and took a step forward.

"Woah big guy, no offence, but one of _those_ guys. Y'know, Mr. cool dude who only gives one-worded answers and acts like he has no passion because, like, god-forbid its emasculating to have something to be interested in apart from your bike, and all that." Effie said getting carried away as she thought about how Mike tried to act when she first met him.

Dwayne just stood starting down at her with a vacant and confused expression on his face, his eyes slightly squinted

"Mr. cool?" He questioned.

"forget it, I was just thinking about Mike," Effie smirked as she managed to pull herself up to her feet, she looked up at Dwayne, "do you actually know how I got out here? I've never sleep walked before, and that's the only thing I can really put it down to before I start freaking out and losing my shit." Effie said with a blunt look in her eyes as she held Dwayne under interrogation.

"I was out for a ride and I saw you laying on the floor, I don't know how you got here, like you said, could have been sleep walking." Dwayne said taking a step back from Effie, shrugging his shoulders and glancing around.

"I have been having some crazy dreams lately, so it wouldn't surprise me if I started sleep walking because of them too," Effie said sadly, looking back towards the sea, getting a strange feeling.

"Do you live up on the other side of the beach on the hill, near the woodlands?" Dwayne asked with more spark in his voice.

"Yeah, how did you know that?" Effie looked at him curiously, furrowing her brows, crossing her arms in defence mode.

So, he wasn't mistaken…

"Well, I am friends with Mike, and he lives up there, you know him," Dwayne said stuttering a little, but giving a clean alibi nonetheless.

"Yeah, I forgot you were friends with him for a minute. Hey, do you suppose we could talk about him for a second?" Effie said as she started to pace in a line up and down.

Dwayne went to lean against his bike, "sure," he said curiously but showing no actual curiosity in his voice.

"What is it you guys do all hours of the night? Mike always gets home so late and his little brother said he's change since hanging around with you guys." Effie said plainly.

"So?" Dwayne shrugged his shoulders.

"SO," Effie emphasised, "are you all doing drugs?"

"What?" Dwayne scoffed and cracked a smile at Effie's theory.

"You can tell me, he needs help, I think" Effie trailed off.

Dwayne took a few steady steps towards Effie until he was looking down on her again, she had the eyes.

"Has anyone ever told you curiosity killed the cat?" Dwayne asked.

"People have reminded me to keep my nose out of certain things, yes, but what's that to you?" she said looking him in the eyes.

Dwayne lifted a corner of his mouth, "if you want to call it drugs," he searched her eyes, "It's drugs." He went back to his bike.

Effie stood contemplating what that could mean, but it was the only proof she had and she took it as foul play with something. Possibly some type of drug, that Mike said he would sort out – yet hasn't.

"Shouldn't you get back home?" Dwayne asked as he sat on his bike and started to rev it, "I'll take you, hop on," Dwayne said without looking Effie directly in the eye.

"sure, I'm at the comic book store tonight," Effie said as she put a leg over the seat and her arms around Dwayne, which felt strange. She recollected how he never really acknowledge her when he spoke to her, but he did save her life before, which placed him in a better category than the rest of the boys she had encountered.

"I see," Dwayne said with a smirk, but before Effie could question the tone in his voice, he had taken her back to Edgar.

"Thank you for the ride, I guess I might see you around, preferably without your friends because, y'know, they're ass wipes. But could you do me one more favour?" Effie asked with a little plea in her voice.

"Depends what it is?" Dwayne responded, crossing his arms, but he already knew what she was thinking.

"could you talk some sense into Mike, tell him his brother misses him and we need to talk." Effie questioned.

"sure," Dwayne said.

"see you,"

Effie headed towards the back door, luckily no one's bedroom window looked out onto the back of the street where Dwayne had dropped her off. Edgar would flip shit when he found out what happened. Might be best not to mention this one, Effie thought. Once she found him in an even deeper sleep than he was before, come to think of it, she thought, that was the last thing she really remembered.


	14. Chapter 14: The Origin Story

**Chapter 13 – The origin story**

He started to watch her and the house. From the spot in the tree which he had always accommodated, he watched most nights. No one seemed to question his absence, he was absent most of the time. This was his secret, this was what he wanted to use the nights for, just watching. Listening to the breathing through the walls, the sounds of pulling covers and yawning mouths. Human things that made people slumber in a deep comfort that made them never want to open their eyes again. He missed that, the feeling of pure bliss, the restful sleep that he knew he would never get back.

It wasn't just the house he took to watching over as the weeks went by, but the evenings as well. He became more and more daring on how early into the night he could make it out without being burned too badly and provoking questions from his brothers. He always managed to brush them off, as the second in command of the whole group, no one really provoked him beyond his means. Of course, they were always listening. Or at least David was. He had the best hearing out of all of them but as time goes on, he learned to control his thoughts and master his mind away from the undesirable listeners, it's just something they learn over time.

As he wondered out into the twilight of the evenings, he watched her wonder around the boardwalk, hang out with her friends, become board of the atmosphere and stimulated when she made a joke at someone's expense. Watching the tumultuous emotions made him try to remember what it was like to feel that much in such a short amount of time. In the beginning, he enjoyed being free of the burden that tied him down in life and be his greatest weakness, but as time goes on, it's something you start to contemplate when you have nothing left.

He stalked the shadows of the boardwalk like smoke, undetected and uncatchable to the untrained eye, his clothes making no sound and his hair never lagging too long behind him. He remembered the night she referred to Marko as a male stripper, but they tried their best to fit into each decade as much as they could with what they had. But no one has told her yet, he observed, not even her own boyfriend – the so-called vampire hunter, the self-named saviour of the American way.

No wonder she was so sad, everything around her was a lie and the people closest to her were keeping the biggest secrets from her clutches, despite how they watch her squirm and dig for answers to an unsolvable case. Was this cruel? He thought. Of course, it was. But there was a sense of excitement in watching the human race be tortured or torture themselves, yet this was more interesting. He had seen people kill each other, kill themselves, die of illness or famine, but that was all done before. This was a pure mental battle, a caterpillar trying its best to break out of the cocoon that was keeping it confined, it was truly a spectacle for the voyeuristic eye.

" _You really did make a scene when you burst in that night, but it will go down in history, next to the night you kicked the shit out of Edgar," Lottie laughed as she ate her hot dog._

" _It was worth every minute, we really did think some naked creep with a tiny dick was holding you hostage though," Effie laughed as she looked at Sam's reaction._

" _Will you drop that part, I've heard it too many times," Sam sulked and looked down at the table._

" _That was Ed, nothing to do with me," Effie shot back as she took a sip of her drink._

The laughter was something he would always remember, but he could only watch and live vicariously now at every bit of human experience that moved further away from his memory as the years passed him by. How long could he watch before he wished he could feel too? More nights of watching passed.

" _You seem to be sleeping a lot better, or at least you look a lot better," Edgar said as he swung an arm around Effie's shoulder as they headed towards the beach._

" _Weirdly enough everything has kind of gone back to normal, no crazy dreams, no sleepless nights, I think it's a miracle or someone up there is watching over me," Effie laughed_

" _Someone watching over you, huh?_

 **Yes…**

 _Edgar asked in confusion, "I thought you didn't believe in any of that crap,"_

" _I don't, although despite the fact the dreams have gone away, I do still get the same feeling that someone is watching me all the time, no angel though," Effie smirked as she sat on the sand._

" _that reminds me," Edgar said hastily, he had been waiting for this opportunity for a while._

" _what?" Effie asked vacantly, staring out to the ocean._

" _The night a few weeks back when you were staying at mine and you were freezing cold, like you had been in the sea, remember?" Edgar asked curiously._

 _Effie stiffened up, "What about it?" She asked as if it wasn't a big deal._

" _Why were you so cold? You crashed asleep before we could even talk about it and it's like you've been evading that night ever since, did something happen, did you go outside?"_

 _Edgar said turning more towards Effie to look at her face._

" _Yeah, I stepped outside for some air to try and sleep, sometimes it helps," Effie said quickly, wanting to get off the subject._

" _You could have just told me that the night I asked, I know I tell you not to be on your own at night around the boardwalk but you could have woken me up and I would have come out with you,"_

 _Edgar said placing a careful hand on Effie's shoulder. She thought about shrugging it off, she was embarrassed at the interrogation, usually she was the one asking questions. But she knew that Ed cared about her and it was becoming more and more obvious as time went on. She knew she should be thanking him but her pride was still intact._

" _Maybe next time,"_

 _She remarked, giving Ed a brief smile and glance before she turned back to look at the ocean._

 **So, the saviour of man kind doesn't know. Figures, he hasn't tried to kill us yet. Effie…You don't know what web you're getting weaved in to.**

As more time went on, the temptation to intervene in the life of this human was becoming harder to resist, it was like a plant desperately needed water, how an insecure child needs validation. But she was never alone, always surrounded by idiots. Her saviour-boyfriend crawling two steps behind her every night she was out, surveying the area for danger. He obviously wasn't as great at his vocation as he assumed.

 **That's it, child…**

It was another hot and dry night on the boardwalk, the big dipper was just as fun as it always was, the same as the arcade and the ice cream parlour. The waves were crashing, but tonight was the concert of a lifetime.

"I can't believe Jax is performing in Santa Carla, this is like a huge deal, guys!"

Sam shouted as he jogged down the boardwalk waiting for the rest of his friends to catch up.

"As we've explained, Sam, Jax wasn't big in England, me and Effie have no idea who he is,"

Lottie pleaded with Sam as she tried to keep up with his pace, Ed and Effie were breezing behind, not really getting the excitement.

"I promise you, he's a rock God, Effie will definitely like him,"

Sam said as he stopped to let the others catch up.

"well it actually seems livelier out here for once, I like the vibe,"

Effie said as she looked around at the crowds of people heading towards the beach with an air of expectation and excitement, it was the first time she didn't feel suffocated in Santa Carla.

"I think we should still be able to see from the back, we're a bit late, but never mind!"

Sam said as he ran off, once again, down the beach to the back of the crowd. There was a huge stage lit up and people getting ready for the show. Instruments were being tuned and the mic was being checked. People cheered in expectation, beer bottles were already being tossed around and the bonfires on the beach were lit for the surfers to enjoy from a far. Sam joined in the cheers, egging Lottie to do the same thing whilst Effie and Ed shook their heads at the puppy-like excitement Sam displayed, Lottie was just enjoying the fact this was the happiest she had ever seen him without his brother. In a small amount of time, the gig was in full swing.

People danced around and jeered, and as time went on, the more wasted everyone was. Effie had made a decent spectacle of drinking 6 beers and she showed no sings of stopping, Jax was as good as Sam said he was.

Effie wasn't too drunk to notice a little boy running through the crowd on his own, like he was trying to get away from something. She chased after him and amidst the excitement, no one realised she had gone.

"Hey!"

She shouted as she chased after the boy, pushing people out of her way as she did so. The boy looked back briefly and kept running but Effie didn't enjoy playing games. She just felt concerned. She was too quick for the young boy and soon caught him by his shirt, she grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the sweating and suffocating crowd. Taking a few breaths of relief, she sat the boy on the sand and watched him.

"What the hell were you doing running around like that on your own, it's like one am, shouldn't you be in bed? Where are your parents?"

Effie pushed, still gasping for breath.

"I don't have any parents,"

The boy responded, looking down at the sand in shame.

"Your guardian then?" Effie pushed but the boy just shrugged and started playing with the sand.

"You're not much of a talker, are you?" Effie said as she sat next to the boy on the ground.

The boy shook his head.

"Well, you need to help me out so we can get you back home," Effie nudged gently at the boy with her shoulder but he just moved away from her.

"There you are," Said a voice that sounded like honey, Effie would now recognise it anywhere.

"Me or him?" Effie asked in confusion as she squinted up at the dark mass towering over her on the sand.

"Him," Dwayne said, signalling to the boy with his eyes.

The boy stood up and walked to Dwayne.

"Is this your kid?" Effie asked, looking back and forth between the pair.

"kind of," Dwayne said looking back down at Effie.

"How can you 'kind of' be a parent?" Effie scoffed as she stood up to meet Dwayne's gaze.

"he's my brother," Dwayne said dryly.

"Yeah, I can tell, he isn't much of a talker either," Effie smirked as she looked down at the boy who was now kicking at the sand and standing patiently by Dwayne.

"You do enough to make up for that," Dwayne said slightly amused at the look this achieved from Effie.

"You're sharper than I thought," Effie said as a corner of her mouth raised into somewhat of a grin.

"try not to hurt yourself then," Dwayne said as he took the boy by the hand and started walking up the beach.

He knew she would follow, she couldn't help herself. He had known curiosity like this before.

"you might want to explain how your brother ended up at a concert like this in the middle of the night, or did that scenario just slip your mind. Were you supposed to be watching him? I caught him running through the crowd," Effie blurted as she tried to keep pace with Dwayne.

Dwayne briefly stopped, "thanks," he gestured with a nod, then continued walking.

Effie stood in disbelief at the arrogance.

"You're fucking welcome!" She shouted at him as he walked away, "and I thought you were nice," she muttered under her breath as the turned back and started walking towards the music.

"I'm not too bad," Dwayne said from directly behind her, making her jump ten feet in the air.

"How the fuck did you get here so quick?!" she shouted as she looked around to see if anyone else noticed.

"magic," Dwayne smirked

Effie noticed the boy had vanished.

"where the hell did your brother run off to now? You're not a very good babysitter." Effie said with contempt as she crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

"I sent him back home, he'll be fine," Dwayne shrugged

"What's his name?" Effie asked.

"Laddie," Dwayne remarked

"strange name," Effie commented without thinking, she looked at Dwayne worried that she had caused offence.

"Sorry," She blurted quickly, "I don't mean it's a bad name, I've just never heard of that name,"

Dwayne cracked a slight smile again.

"It's fine, we don't get many Effie's around here either,"

"It's short for Elizabeth actually, but Elizabeth sounds a bit…" she faltered,

"Pretentious?" Dwayne asked

"exactly," Effie laughed as she drew some hair behind her ear, "what are you doing out here randomly again then? A fan of Jax?"

"He's not bad, not for me, though," Dwayne said as he started taking a steady stroll towards the sea, knowing Effie would follow absent minded.

"Thank you for that night a few weeks back by the way, I can't remember if I did thank you. But, someone with more insidious intentions could have found me and then I would just be another missing person around here," Effie laughed awkwardly as she made the distasteful joke without thinking first.

"Yeah, someone with worse intentions could have found you," Dwayne said as he thought of what would have happened if David came across her that night after the fool she had made of him a few months back.

"okay, I get the point, Santa Carla is full of creeps and predators, thank you for reiterating that point," Effie said, annoyed at the constant reminder of the dangers she faced, from Edgar now from this dude who kept popping up out of nowhere the past few weeks.

"your boyfriend is right to keep reminding you," Dwayne said, forgetting to hide the fact he could pick up on her thoughts like a bee to honey.

"how would you know he keeps reminding me?" Effie regarded him suspiciously as they now stood at the edge of the ocean.

 _ **Shit…**_

"You know full well he doesn't like Michael or any company he keeps," Dwayne said as he avoided the eyes that were burning into the side of his face.

"I knew he didn't like Mike or his girlfriend but he never mentioned anything about you, only Sam did,"

Effie said as she shut her trap soon after she realised, she was revealing all the group confidentiality to a stranger at best.

"Everybody has an opinion now-a-day,"

Dwayne said bluntly. His hair was catching a slight breeze in the wind that was being carried over the sea. Effie guessed Santa Carla wasn't that big of a town and people knew people, it was easy to assume that Mike had told his gang about his little brother and his opinions, she could imagine them sat around on their bikes laughing at the over emotional teenage boy that couldn't stop pining after his big brother. But this made Effie feel angry.

"About that,"

She said sharply as she turned her whole body towards the dark acquaintance and watched him carefully, hands on hips.

"Did you ever speak to Mike like I asked?"

She reminded him with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I spoke to him," Dwayne said without flinching.

Effie had little doubt but she couldn't deny he appeared to be telling the truth.

 _A few weeks ago, …_

Dwayne slid back into the darkness and down the rocky crags undetected. He had been thinking about how little Effie really knew about Santa Carla and was inquisitive and excited of how she would find out. Would her saviour boyfriend let it slip? Would she see Michael? Would she become trapped in the idea that she could hunt vampires just like the morphydite Frog brother?

And what would he say to Michael about her exactly? The night she ran out in front of the bikes on the beach, they all decided she was some lunatic wanting to get attention, and she was lucky she wasn't on the hunting list, thanks to Mike. She didn't realise she had some friends in quiet high places. Mike said they couldn't do anything to her because she didn't know anything about them and it would start a whole new fight between everybody and they were lucky to patch up the last fight that occurred when Sam and Lucy found out about Mike and the boys, and how Max was the head of a whole dynasty of vampires. Max nearly died, but not quiet. Everybody nearly died. They agreed to stick to their end of town and not brother the Emerson's again, at the agreement Mike because a full vampire and Star and Laddie followed. Max got what he wanted, Lucy almost got what she wanted, which was peace, but she lost a son in the process.

It was all a neat little secret. They kept the house, they kept the privacy and the fact that Mike would come back home sometimes during the night to see his mom and his brother, only briefly before he had to sleep for the day. For eleven months this deal went on smoothly, and the vampires hunted other victims around Santa Carla, just as they always had. But the house down the road became occupied, and Effie's family moved in.

Her sister started a relationship with Mike's little brother, and this caused complications for everyone. People were starting to get close to the Emerson's, the mother even secured a job at Max's video store, and was friends with Lucy. Effie had her ongoing arguments with Michael, everyone was involved with the Emerson's. And that meant they were getting involved with more than just the family, but the secrets that came with it.

"Michael,"

Dwayne shouted down the path as he could see Mike emerge from the cave.

"Where have you been? It's nearly sunrise, so I need to get home to sleep."

Mike said as he brushed past Dwayne to get to his motorbike.

"We need to talk about Effie," Dwayne said as he blocked Mike's path.

"You don't need to get in my way, Dwayne, you know I'm on your side here," Mike said as he moved Dwayne's shoulder out of his way.

"It's because this is urgent," Dwayne said with more audacity in his voice, which made Mike stop and listen to him.

Mike searched Dwayne's eyes, there wasn't usually anything Dwayne couldn't handle, he was the silent body guard of the whole group, he kept everything running smoothly, David listened to him like an advisor.

"what is it? Has she found out?" Mike said as he started to panic.

"Far from it," Dwayne said reassuringly, "it didn't go to plan,"

Dwayne said as he leaned against a metal railing that was loose and rusted.

"Shit, what happened?" Mike exasperated as he started to pace up and down the steps with his hands behind his head.

"Actually, the plan changed twice," Dwayne admitted.

Mike looked at him with fury.

"what do you mean it changed, Dwayne? You were only supposed to scare her away from me, what did you do!" He shouted as Dwayne just looked at him with an authoritative stance.

"This goes no further," Dwayne said pointing a finger at Mike as he took a few steps towards him.

Mike nodded solemnly.

"Sure," he said.

"I was going to kill her," Dwayne admitted calmly, Mike looked worried for his own life.

"What the fuck dude! Why would you do that? We had a plan, you can't go killing her, she's best friends with my brother and if he ever clicks onto this, we are gone for good when the crazy ass Frog brothers try to hunt us down like dogs and there's another fight, what about my mom?!"

Mike shouted as he started getting hysterical at the idea of another traumatic experience.

"I wasn't going to show her it was me, she was in a trance, she jumped off the Hudson's bluff cliffs," Dwayne said dryly, with a bit of regret in his voice as he admitted his change of plan, "it couldn't have been traced back to us,"

"Edgar would have found out, she's his fucking girlfriend, and he isn't as stupid as people give him credit for, he knows more about us than probably anyone could know, he would find out some day and I would be gone." Mike said still panicking and pacing around, "Edgar Frog will never forgive me for agreeing to be fully changed, despite the fact it was keeping my mom and Sam safe, he just sees me as a traitor," he said lost in his own thoughts.

"you're missing the point, I didn't kill her in the end. When she jumped, I got her out. I got her back, it's fine," Dwayne said as he looked down with, what he could only assume, was a sense of shame.

Mike let out a long sigh.

"right, so she isn't dead. And she doesn't remember?" Mike asked looking to Dwayne for a good answer. Dwayne shook his head, Mike let out another sigh of relief.

"so, in what way did the plan change the second time?" Mike asked more calmly, standing in one spot but bracing himself for another crazy answer.

"The whole plan has changed. I decided I can't keep torturing her anymore." Dwayne said as he directly looked Michael in the eye.

"What!" Mike shouted once again.

"You were supposed to scare her away from us, get her sent to some crazy hospital, what good is your mind control if you can't use it to control her mind!" Mike asked with anger.

He knew the family was trouble, especially Effie, with her questions and her investigations and whether she knew it or not, being driven out of the house or sent somewhere to a hospital because of crazy psychosis and sleepless nights was a better outcome than her finding out about the vampires and his family being put in danger yet again. That was their plan and David agreed to it. Dwayne would sort out Effie and Michael would keep her away from himself if David and the rest agreed not to hunt her down and cause another war. Mike still had a lot of emotions, he had only been a vampire for one year, but Dwayne had 400 years on him and he was skilled, more advanced, even more so than David. Why Dwayne isn't the one in command, Mike would never know.

"I know what the plan was, but something happened and I can't do it anymore, besides, Edgar Frog is doing a good job of keeping everything on lockdown. He wouldn't want her to find out and run away from him thinking he is crazy now, would he?"

Dwayne said as he chuckled at the prospect of Edgar chasing after Effie, shouting and trying to drag her back like the night he did at the beach.

"You have a point, but ours was a long-term solution if we kept going long enough. Ed is weak, he will crack one day. And if he doesn't, Effie has enough balls to find out for herself. All it takes is for her to find their vampire slaying equipment and Edgar's notes and she's a goner," Mike said with urgency.

"either way, I can't do this anymore. I'll keep an eye on her, but I won't make her lose her mind," Dwayne said as she started to head back to the cave.

Mike stood looking at Dwayne's back in disbelief. Calm and composed Dwayne couldn't push one human over the edge for the sake of the agreement and everyone's safety? Mike thought.

"Want to tell me what's changed all of a sudden?" Mike shot at Dwayne, "first you stop Marko from running her over, then you try to make her kill herself, but now you're a saviour? I don't understand you right now," Mike said with curiosity.

Dwayne turned back towards Michael.

"Whether we're dead or not Michael, whatever it is we want to happen, we don't get to choose. You can't change fate. Don't mistake your newfound existence for being able to control the world, that's not what it is. It never truly helped me, and it won't help you. So, forget this plan, it obviously wasn't going to happen." Dwayne said as he looked Michael in the eye.

Michael scoffed at the cryptic lecture he had just received.

"What's all this, some ancient native American wisdom you still use?" He laughed.

"It's called realism." Dwayne said bluntly in a way that wiped the smile from Mike's face.

"I've been around a long time Michael, and you need realism when everything doesn't seem so real anymore, take it as advice. I'll still keep an eye on Effie, but I won't control her mind, for reasons you wouldn't understand."

Dwayne said as he disappeared into the cave.

"and what did he say?" Effie asked unable to contain her curiosity.

"he said he will talk to Sam but that it isn't anyone else's business and that he's fine," Dwayne lied without flinching.

"So, there is still nowhere to get with him. I guess he's just a lost cause," Effie sighed as she sat on the sand in defeat.

"I am sleeping normally now, though. So, I guess I don't need to keep blaming him for being a loud jackass." Effie laughed under her breath in disappointment that her whole investigation was void.

"yeah, don't worry about your sleep anymore. Just focus on what's ahead," Dwayne said cryptically with a small smile on the usual corner of his mouth.

"and what's ahead? The only thing I had going for me in this town was trying to find out what was wrong with Mike but he really is a hard-headed ass, like me, I guess. So now I'm just bored."

Effie said with a sigh as she started playing with the sand.

Dwayne pursed his lips momentarily as he became lost in his own thoughts.

"Bored people like to hear stories; you want a story?" Dwayne asked thoughtfully, joining Effie in sitting on the sand.

Effie regarded him with humour and suspicion.

"Are you a daddy day care now? What stories do you know, nursery rhymes?" Effie laughed.

"I know a lot that you don't know," Dwayne said as he let a sly smile slip, "and I have been around here a lot longer than you, so I would know more stories,"

"go on then, enlighten me" Effie said as she leaned back on her elbows to listen to what she thought would be a tale of more boredom.

"I know a story about the house you live in," Dwayne said with an irksome smile that actually caught Effie's full attention.

"For real? Mom said that people didn't want the house we were in because its built on some sort of ancient native American burial ground. That's the only reason we could afford a house that big." Effie said with an eyebrow raised.

"your mom isn't wrong. That's exactly the tale I'm about to tell you. Not many folks know it nowadays." Dwayne said sadly as he looked to the ocean.

"And how do you know it?" Effie asked curiously.

"well you can probably tell I'm a bit less American looking than the average person, I have native roots, put it that way, and those left of us all knew this story." Dwayne said with a distant sound in his voice, "so shut up and listen,"

"Over 400 years ago the forest behind your house was occupied by an ancient native American tribe called Sidanelv-"

"what does that mean?" Effie blurted out,

"I told you not to interrupt, but if you must know, it simply means family," Dwayne said impatiently,

"The family tribe? Seems a bit bland,"

"They were simpler times, shut up and don't interrupt again or no story," Dwayne chastised.

"Ok," Effie said rolling her eyes

"As I was saying, the Sidanelv tribe were an ancient, small and humble family. They lived amongst nature and respected and worked the land and in return, the land provided food and shelter. They were the guardians of the forest and the forest was known as the Agasesdi Adohinage and, before you interrupt, it means the watching forest. They believed nature was the God above everything and that the forest was their guardian just as much as they were its guardians. But after hundreds of years of protecting and thriving, the guarding was over. Foreigners came by sea and started scouting the land, the tribe had never seen these men before, faces so pale, weapons so different. They were a peaceful but cautious people and rarely fought with other men but these men were unlike any they had ever encountered. At first, the Sidanelv were on their guard, but then one of the pale men came unarmed to the camp and kneeled upon the ground, they spoke no common language but the tribe knew this was a sign of peace. The chief invited this man to sit with him and his men and after many hours and reading of body language, they became fond of this man and wanted to show him their land and how to live in it. After many months, the chief and his highest people learnt their tongue and began to understand these pale men. They shared the land and even held a grand ceremony recognising these men as our – I mean their – brothers. These foreigners had no chief but their so -called leader went by the name of Thomas. Soon enough these foreigners bought their women and children over and became fully invested on living in the lands."

"How do you know all this, sorry, I know I said I wouldn't interrupt," Effie said apologetically,

Dwayne couldn't be mad as it was a good question, he thought for a moment,

"One of the chief's men was an…ancestor of mine. According to the legends," Dwayne said with a sigh of relief at the credibility of his knowledge, "On with the story, no more interruptions,"

"The leader Thomas told our chief he had no children of his own but his right-hand man, Isaac, had a wife and daughter. This wife and daughter came over and my ancestor fell in love with the daughter. If you must know, before you ask questions, the daughter was named Alice."

"and your ancestor was called what?" Effie blurted out again.

"fucking…Okay his name was…Dohate, now shut the fuck up,"

"Dohate and Alice fell in love, they didn't mean to, but they did and they would spend every moment together that they could away from the tribe and the pale faces. They planned to ask the chief of the Sidanelv to grant them a spirit bond, in other words a wedding, so that they could tie their souls together forever, it was a big thing for the tribe to undertake, many people never had a spirit bond as the commitment was so great – it meant in this life and the rest of their lives to come. Together. But Alice thought it was beautiful and she told Dohate her love for him was so great she was sure that even without the spirit bond, she would always be able to find him in whatever lives they had after."

Effie didn't usually like love stories but she felt her eyes tear up as she became deeply curious and invested about this one, she was fully laying on her side on the sand now, listening intently.

"The Sidanelv's chief and the people were surprisingly happy to hear this request as to their peaceful

nature it meant the beginning of a lasting tie and friendship with the first foreigners they had ever met. They were open to embrace their fellow man, and that's what makes this story so sad. Dohate and Alice were the happiest spirits alive but they had to convince Alice's people that this was a good idea but in their love blindness they convinced themselves that it would be okay because their people had joined together as one. And they even said that their union would be the start of a new kind of family, even the priestesses of the Sidanelv foretold that their love would be forever. So, they had no reason to fear. However, Isaac flew into a rage and forbade it. They were to never see each other again and things between the pale face and the tribe became sour. The only thing left to do was run away and never look back, that's what all people crazy in love do, right? Dohate and Alice were careful to pass word to each other, they had to do it through one of the Chief's men, as the Chief was still hopeful of a resolution. They arranged to meet in the very depths of the watching forest one night and never look back, as it turned out, there would be a joining of two people after all, whether the pale faces liked it or not."

"you mean?" Effie said curiously as she looked at Dwayne's face.

"Alice was with child. The priestesses of the Sidanelv told Dohate that he was to have a son. They were going to name him Chaske as it meant first born and Dohate hoped this first born would give hope to them as they wondered away into the unknown to be together. Dohate knew the risk they were taking, not just as a couple but for Alice to give birth on her own in the middle of the unknown was a death sentence. Either way they turned, there were dangers and so they were keen to carry on. The fated night they were to meet, Dohate was waiting under the mighty willow waiting for her but she never came. He walked back to the camp and there was nothing left to greet him but bloodshed. His tribe lay dead, the pale faces lay dead, they had murdered each other beyond oblivion. And then he saw Isaac and Alice. Dohate drew his weapons and warned Isaac he was no match for him, and Isaac knew this, so he let Alice go. She ran to Dohate, but…Isaac shot her down right in front of him. Isaac knew Dohate would kill him and yet he was willing to sacrifice himself just so he could die knowing his daughter was never going to be with him. Dohate hated men and the whole world in that moment, even killing Isaac couldn't save him from that. He crawled to Alice but she was already gone, Chaske was gone with her. Everything was gone and so Dohate decided he should be with his love and he should be gone with her. He managed to kill himself, but not enough. He was found by Thomas, the leader of the pale faces and he – well he helped Dohate live, put it that way." Dwayne finished as he looked off into the distance.

Effie had tears in her eyes as she didn't know what to say to Dwayne after such a story. She was truly moved by it.

"that was one of the best stories I ever heard, really," She said wiping away the silent tears.

"it is truly an epic tale," Dwayne said nostalgically, yet so unemotional.

"so, what does it have to do with my house? I understand your ancestors were killed on that land but who buried them there? And who built the house?"

"Oh, I almost forgot, it really isn't important to the history of the place but apparently after Thomas helped Dohate live, Dohate went back and buried his people and Thomas built the house for him, not that he spent much time there." Dwayne thought.

"what happened after that? To Dohate and Thomas? It's weird how Thomas' people butchered Dohate's people yet he was willing to help your ancestor live?" Effie questioned.

"I guess Thomas wasn't a normal human." 

Dwayne said with a look of fear in his eyes.


	15. Chapter 15: Cuckoo's Nest

Chapter 15 – Cuckoo's Nest

"And what the fuck is going on here?" A pissed off voice said, breaking the enjoyment of the night.

Effie looked up to find Edgar stood over here and Dwayne, she immediately got to her feet and felt apologetic for how long she had wondered off from her friends and her sister, although Effie couldn't see her sister or Sam with Edgar, he must have wondered off on his own to find her.

"Shit, how long have I been gone? I didn't mean to let the time get away Ed, sorry,"

Effie said as she reached a hand out to put on Edgar's shoulder in apology.

But Edgar slapped her hand away with annoyance.

"It's not you being gone that's my concern, its what you're doing with that freak,"

Edgar hisses not even attempting to hold back the hatred in his voice as he looked towards Dwayne, he was also stood on his feet now and towering over them both.

"Oh, so, fuck where I am, screw if I was kidnapped or murdered or whatever, your top priority is who I'm talking to? Real chivalrous of someone who is supposed to be a so-called boyfriend,"

Effie said in a rage, flailing her arms around in anger. Dwayne just stood by and watched everything unfold as Edgar's eyes never left him. Edgar could hear what Effie was saying but he was more interested in Dwayne.

"What are you even doing out here?"

Edgar said in a low and angry voice to Dwayne, who just shifted the weight from one leg to the other, looking fed up with the futile fight Edgar was trying to challenge him to.

"can't a guy wonder freely these days?"

Dwayne teased as he let a sarcastic smile flesh out onto his face.

"You're not just a "guy" though are you? You're an actual bastard."

Edgar threw back with venom in his voice and taking a step closer to where Dwayne was standing. Effie was watching the both of them with the urgent feeling that she was missing something. Dwayne's smile dropped from his face as Edgar alluded to the fact that he wasn't just a guy, he wondered how far Edgar would be willing to go in front of Effie.

"I know you hate Mike, Edgar, but that doesn't mean all of Michael's friends are the same as him. Dwayne saved me from being run over that night on the beach a few months ago, you should be thanking him."

Effie said in a serious tone, for once she wasn't trying to make a joke out of the situation or jump on defence mode as she genuinely believed she owed Dwayne something and that in exchange for the favour he did for her, he deserved to be regarded with some respect, even from Edgar. Besides, if Ed really cared about her, he should be thanking Dwayne, she thought.

"yeah, Frog, I saved her life. So, we're done here, ok? Call it even."

Dwayne said in solidarity with Effie's philosophy on their strained familiarity with each other. But Edgar just laughed spitefully.

"I don't owe him anything, Effie. The guy is evil and he is an absolute disease to mankind. And you can go and fuck yourself you predator, what do you know about being heroic or doing anything good? I was there that night on the beach and I saw you push Marko out of the way, why?"

Edgar demanded as he stood his ground but Effie was mortified at his response.

"So, this man saved my life and yet you really don't think he should just be left alone, despite whatever hatred you have against him and his friends? How heartless can you really be Edgar? I'm not asking you to thank him because of him, I'm asking you to just cool it for my sake. Do you actually realise there is a chance I wouldn't be stood here right now if it wasn't for him? Just back off."

Effie said sadly, she was really trying to appeal to the good nature of Edgar, the understanding one that she spent so much time bringing out in him. The empathetic side of him that spent countless nights listening to her problems and helping her through one of the worst experiences of her life. The side she would never have believed was there until she really got to know him. She was just seeing the same ignorant and lonely boy that she had met when she first moved to Santa Carla.

"saving one life does not give you a free pass, demon."

Edgar spat at Dwayne, still ignoring Effie. She couldn't believe the way Edgar was acting, what had changed him within the last few hours of her absence? Where was the guy she thought she was beginning to fall for?

"so, it doesn't matter if that one life was mine, Edgar?" 

Effie said, she was now stood right in front of Edgar as it was the only way to get his attention. Edgar couldn't actually believe she had real tears of sadness in her eyes, did he really want to hurt her that much?

"I'm not saying that I don't care that you're alive Effie, I just don't know why he, of all people, would be so interested in being a saviour. Also, you don't even know this guy. You stand there defending him like you actually know who he is and its pitiful to watch. He's a monster."

Edgar said more calmly but still with ice in his voice. However, this didn't make Effie feel any better. She knew deep down Edgar was happy she was alive; he didn't mean to come across the way he did sometimes with his crude nature and his harsh words. But until now she never knew how much Edgar's words could actually wound her.

"I don't need to know who he is, all I need to know is he cared enough to save ME. I don't care about before or after, just that I think this is stupid and whatever problems you have don't seem to want to find peace, so this is pointless. I was just trying to get though to you, I guess, but that's pointless as well."

"you heard your girlfriend, Ed, its pointless,"

Dwayne said as he mocked their argument. Edgar's eyes flashed towards Dwayne but he was cut off by Effie.

"If you two hate each other so much, God knows why, then why did you bother Dwayne? Why bother saving me, you're not answering Ed's questions clearly so why don't you answer to me instead, are you such a monster?"

This blindsided Dwayne and Edgar as Effie became the interrogator of the situation. Dwayne knew that when Effie was being bothered by something in particular, in this case her boyfriend's disregard of her, then that issue was not quick to be put aside. However, Effie had managed to see the bigger picture and attempted to get to the bottom of the issue between the Edgar and himself. But then again, she never liked to be left out of anything and there was so much she didn't know.

Dwayne just never planned on answering to Effie and he didn't plan to now, he could feel things would start to fall apart as soon as Effie started asking the real questions. She believed the bull shit story that the Frogs hated Mike for ditching Sam and hanging out with them, that was just kid stuff that was easy to accept. But for her to start digging into the hatred between Edgar and the rest of the lost boys was a different set of problems. Was there even a backup story for this type of situation? They hadn't worried about that before because no one expected a family would move into that empty house.

"I'll let your boyfriend answer that one for you. I don't have anything left to say to either of you."

Dwayne said with a harshness in his voice, he turned and started walking away with his hands in his pockets. He knew Edgar and Effie would both be watching him as he did, he just ditched the party, and it could have been fun too, he thought.

Effie turned to look at Edgar.

"And you…actually, don't even get me started. What can I say right now?"

Effie asked, more to herself, as she slowly started walking away from Edgar. He knew he had hurt her terribly with what he had said, but he couldn't let his guard down in front of Dwayne, he would never let any of those vermin see any sort of weakness from him. It was bad enough that he was only eighteen and not taken seriously anyway, the only thing he had was his knowledge and fight against them, and that was his strength. If he gave that up, he really felt like he would become nothing. Despite Effie coming into his life, he would never depend his purpose and happiness upon another person, aside from his brother.

"I'm sorry Effie but there is no way I was letting him walk all over me, he needed to hear what I thought of him, and I don't take back anything I said. Whether he saved your life or not, I will never thank him for anything, he won't ever get that from me but I want you to know that doesn't mean that I don't care about what happened that night, of course I don't want you dead. If it were anyone else that saved you, I'd have given them all the free comics they wanted, but it was him."

Edgar said shaking as he thought about the game Dwayne was playing, but he couldn't even figure out what that game was, he just felt that something wasn't right. Effie stopped in her tracks.

"I know what you're like by now, Ed. I know your words are often something left to be desired, I shouldn't even be getting this upset over it. I know your actions speak lounder than anything you could say and that's the thing that makes me always forgive you."

Effie said sorrowfully as she turned to look Edgar in the eyes, he felt better by what Effie was saying, she did know what he was like and she was right, she could always forgive him no matter what he said when they argued because she knew deep down he would always show how much he cared. He was never good with people, he spent his life with drugged up hippy parents and running a comic book shop with his brother as his only friend, he would never be good with conversation and straight forward with emotions, not even for Effie. All this was true and he knew that Effie understood this, it was as close that anyone could get to even understanding him and so his heart stopped pounding a little bit until Effie hurt him back.

"But I don't want to see you anymore, Ed."

"What?"

Edgar chocked as he stumbled in disbelief and then he started shouting.

"what did that bastard say to you? He said something didn't he? Tell me Effie, what did he say to you?"

Effie was dumbfounded.

"you never came up in the conversation, not everything is concerned with you, Ed. You may be the little ring leader of our group, always pushing Alan about, taking the piss out of Sam and Lottie, thinking you're my hero, but I'll be damned if I stand here and let you think that everything is really about you. You're so obsessed with everything, with Mike and his friends, its fucking weird and I need a break from it, from you."

Edgar felt hurt but this didn't show, he couldn't help but bitterly laugh in Effie's face.

"How funny, Effie, did you write that one yourself? Me, obsessed with Mike? What about you and your little investigations, finding out what this weird vibe you get from Santa Carla is? Poking your nose into Sam's family and his personal business. His relationship with your sister. You even managed to get yourself put on sleeping pills over it all, and I'M obsessed? Ringing me all hours of the night whining, crying that you want to stay over at the comic book store because you can't sleep. Don't make me laugh and don't even dare to be that pathetic. Above all of it, standing there and acting like you know Dwayne. How much of a psychotic bitch can you be?"

Before Edgar could even take anything back, he had been hit so hard in the face by Effie's fist that he could hear his nose crack. He looked up through teared eyes and a blooded nose, Effie was just stood staring at him with a vacant expression.

"I didn't hit you because you're wrong, I hit you because you're probably right. But it still fucked me off and I still don't want to see you, now more than ever. Oh, and if it wasn't for me you would still be a fucking virgin loser."

Effie walked off towards the music of the gig that was still in full swing. Probably to find her sister, or not. Maybe she would just disappear home on her own. Ed didn't know what the protocol was, does he go and check she made it to her sister, does he ask her sister if she made it at all? He was more than angry but also the most shameful he had ever been in his life. He never felt bad about berating women who were mean to him before but his own girlfriend, the one he felt himself actually falling for, he didn't know this feeling or what to do with it. He wanted to hit Effie right back but what good would that do; she would never even spit in his direction if he did that to her. He would never see her again. But as Edgar walked aimlessly off the beach intending to go back home, he couldn't help but think that he swore to look out for Effie, Dwayne was up to something, he kept popping up from nowhere and it seemed strange. Maybe it was just a sign that the time for the truth to be exposed was nearing, but not if he could help it. He decided he would check in on Effie tomorrow, there were whole crowds of people out that night for the Jax concert, she would be safe for this one night.

David was sat in the shadows of the boardwalk shops near the railing of the beach on his motorbike, he had seen and heard everything that was said between Dwayne, Edgar and Effie. His lips curled into a hungry smile.

"you were right Dwayne; you're slowly but surely making the bitch lose her mind. Even ruining her relationships in the process as well, you're one devious fucker when you need to be. Soon she'll never even see the point in being in Santa Carla and we can go back to being undisturbed. But still, it would have been less trouble to just kill her that night on the beach, but poor Mikey wouldn't allow it."

David said with a sarcastic chuckle as he lit up a cigarette.

"You mean Max wouldn't allow it,"

Dwayne said calmly, also sat on his bike in the shadows over looking the beach.

"you're not wrong,"

David said as he exhaled smoke from his dead lungs.

"Marko needs to learn to not undermine us next time. If he steps out of line like that again I'll burn his body myself, then we will see if he comes back, even to being undead."

Dwayne said with a dark smile, David laughed.

"fuck me, you really are a stone-cold bastard sometimes. By the way, speaking of stepping out of line, I know where you've spent all those lonely nights away from the cave, back at that forest. Behind the bitches house."

David said with a glare. Dwayne looked at him, almost concerned.

"The agreement was that I would drive her away from us,"

Dwayne said coolly.

"well with the amount of time you've spent near her all these months, she should already be in a straight jacket in the back of a looney van, flying over the cuckoo's nest. Slow progress, don't you think?"

David said sharply, still puffing at the cigarette.

"That place has a past for me despite her living there, David. I've always gone back."

Dwayne said in defence.

"All these hundreds of years and you still can't get over your old life? Do you see me crawling back to my faded memories?"

David laughed without remorse, but after all this time spent with him, Dwayne wasn't even bothered at the jeering. He knew David was a fucking idiot, despite his leadership skills, that's why he was so quick to learn to control his thoughts away from David, he just hoped Mike was keeping his thoughts occupied away from the change of plan they made.

"I don't have anything to say to you about my old life,"

Dwayne said calmly as he revved his motorbike in impatience, intending to find out where Effie went.

"a word of advice,"

David said as he flicked his cigarette butt to the ground. Dwayne regarded him with suspicion as his motorbike sat rumbling like thunder underneath him.

"you're my closest brother, and I say this out of respect, Max is the one you need to be worried about. Not me, you know I don't really give a shit what you do, despite what the others think. But my brotherly feelings towards you aside, I would never cross Max."

David said with great devotion but also great fear.

"we're all scared of Max."

Was all Dwayne said as he rode his bike away into the night.


	16. Chapter 16: Heartless

Chapter 16 – Heartless

Lottie was back to the same old routine – worrying about her sister. She and Sam could not believe that things had become so bad between Edgar and Effie, but what could they do? You can't force two people to be together, she honestly thought they were perfect for each other, but maybe they were both too similar in the anger department. At least they were both honest, no one could say that Edgar and Effie weren't, at the least, honest about their thoughts. Even if it hurt.

At the Jax concert a few weeks ago, Lottie was so absorbed in the night that she didn't realise that Effie had disappeared. It was easy to lose people in a crowd but she was nowhere to be seen. Edgar had said he would go and find her, he was always worried about her and he had reason to be, he had told Lottie about how dangerous Santa Carla can be and Sam always backed this up so Lottie was happy that someone, other than herself, cared enough about her sister to put in the trouble with her.

It felt like Effie was missing for ages but it was probably no longer than an hour. Lottie just happened to look to the top of the steps leading up to the boardwalk from their position on the beach and caught Effie fighting her way past the bystanders of the concert that were littered up and down the steps. There was no Edgar with her though. Lottie got a bad feeling and informed Sam that Edgar wasn't with Effie and it looked like Effie was leaving. There was no Alan with them that night either as he said he would watch the comic book shop.

"I think we should go after her, Sam. It's strange that she isn't with Ed."

Lottie said nervously looking around for any sign of Edgar.

"c'mon this is a once in a lifetime gig and you want to leave? Effie is always Ok and I'm sure Ed will catch up with her,"

Sam said not taking his eyes off of Jax. Lottie loved him but there was still a very immature nature to Sam, despite his empathy, and he was quick to forget the priorities of a situation and often had to be reminded.

"besides, I'm sure if Effie wanted people chasing after her she would have told us that she was disappearing in the first instance,"

Sam said breezily as he was still wrapped up in the music. He wasn't wrong, Effie would have at least said something to her but she didn't so maybe this was a time where she didn't want to be found, sometimes she had those days. But why? Despite her worry, Lottie stayed with Sam at the gig, she could see Effie had got to the top of the stairs and was walking away from the crowd. It was still a long way up the dirt track to their house and it was dark, she just hoped that Mike was out as usual and would catch her along the way. But then again, what if he bought his friends along with him? Lottie started panicking. She knew the rumours about Mike's friends and even though Mike appeared to have Effie's back against them, and one of them saved Effie from being mushed to death on the beach, it was still a bad group to be seen hanging around with.

"Sam, I mean it. We really need to go and get her, or at least make sure she gets home."

Reluctantly that night, Sam and Lottie left and caught up with Effie, they even saw Edgar kicking a random bin on the side of the boardwalk in anger and then watch him slump to the ground in defeat.

"maybe you should go and talk to Edgar, I'll carry on home. It looks like a pretty awkward situation,"

Lottie said as she looked sympathetically at Edgar. Maybe he and Effie had another one of their famous arguments, she thought.

Even all these weeks later, Effie had barely left the house and had refused to see Edgar or come and be with the group. Edgar had rung the house insistently but every time Effie just sauntered down the stairs and slammed the phone on the receiver when he tried. He even baked her a really shit cake and left in on the porch of the house, and Lottie sat on the porch swing as she watched Effie open the door, look at the cake, and then toss it over the rails to the birds that swooped around their house as it was high up over Santa Carla. Edgar even started leaving notes in the mail box because he knew that Effie's job in the morning when their mom was at work was to check the mail. Much to Lottie's surprise, Effie would keep all the notes. Then one evening when there was a chill and Lottie had started the fire in the den, Effie came downstairs with all the notes she had collected and threw them into the fire.

"why the hell did you do that?"

Lottie questioned with slight humour but also annoyance overtaking the tone of her voice as she sat under a blanket on the couch.

"Looked like it was getting low,"

Effie said sarcastically as she curled up on the couch.

"are you going to tell me the full story before I hear it all over again from Sam?"

Lottie said like an old grandma as she sat crocheting in the corner of the couch. She saw Effie draw a deep sigh.

"What are you even making?"

Effie asked nonchalantly as she tried to avoid the subject.

"If you must know, place mats for the table, but don't keep pushing aside this issue. You're almost back to square one like when we first came here, moping about on your own. And sorry but you look like hell, so pale and have you even brushed your hair this week?"

Lottie asked as she raised an eyebrow to the bird's nest of a hair that was on Effie's head. Her blond perm had turned into a tangle of vines held up by a scrunchie on top of her head and she had been wearing the same sweater and leggings since Sunday night.

"If you heard the story from Sam then you would know that Edgar said some pretty shit things about me that night, he even had the indecency to say it to my face."

Effie sulked as she hugged a pillow to her chest.

"you punched the guy in the face, doesn't that make it even? And, for the record, he did have to go to the hospital for that. And the guy is still trying to reach out to you."

Lottie stated with a tone of chastisement, dropping her needles and looking at Effie, hoping she could admit it was fair game at this point.

"Sorry, didn't realise Edgar was everyone's sympathy project all of a sudden,"

Effie said with chagrin at her sister's wisdom.

"He wasn't right to say those things Effie. But at least he is trying to reach a solution, he's being proactive, you're the one stopping the situation being better right now. The punching in the face was definitely you but hiding out in the house for weeks on end, avoiding a boy? Get real."

Lottie said with a slight chuckle as she carried on with her knitting.

"So, your answer is I should just forgive the shit things he said, like I always do, carry on with the cycle of being happy one minute, arguing the next, him saying stupid shit and me being pissed off at him. Is that what a relationship is? I don't see that with you and Sammy boy."

Effie said as she sunk lower into the couch, saddened by the conversation and the realisation that opening yourself up to love also comes with great pain.

"maybe me and Sam just work better, but it doesn't mean we don't argue."

"yeah but nowhere near as much as me and Ed."

Effie said brushing off her sister's futile attempt to relate to her situation.

"No one argues as much as you and Ed,"

Lottie said as she widened her eyes and how much her sister really did argue with her boyfriend.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. I meant it when I said I didn't want to be with him, I needed the space. By the way, something interesting finally came in the mail today, our graduation certificates from England, can finally get a job or whatever now we have the proof of our obvious intelligence,"

Effie said with a smirk as she hopped over the back of the couch to grab the mail from a table in the hall. Lottie dropped her needles and ripped her letter open.

"it's about time, Summer's nearly over anyway and we need to do something, right?"

Lottie smiled as she stood up to admire her certificate but Effie didn't look so pleased.

"I guess, not that I know what the hell I'm supposed to do most of the time,"

Effie said melancholy all over again.

"you need to get a job at least, you can't always rely on Edgar's store money, and now that you two are done you really don't have any money."

Lottie said as she sat on the couch still admiring her certificate, she propped it up gently against the plant on the table.

"I guess you still have Sam's money he gets from working there."

Effie said as she rolled her eyes at her sister's logic but she noticed Lottie stiffen up and it wasn't because of her sarcasm.

"you look a bit peaky,"

Effie pointed out as she sat up to look at her sister, but Lottie looked away.

"I'm not going to rely on Sam's money for much longer,"

Lottie said with sadness in her voice, Effie was almost scared at what she was implying.

"shit, are we both leaving our boyfriends?"

"no!"

Lottie screeched with horror at the very idea of her leaving Sam. Effie looked shook.

"then what the hell do you mean? You're being all sad and shit and it just sounded like you were having some thoughts about him."

"I'll just come out with it – but I haven't told him so keep your mouth shut. I'm applying to go to college."

Lottie said looking at her certificate with hopeful but sad eyes.

"that's great, there are loads of colleges nearby, you can be local."

Effie said with genuine happiness at her sister's choice.

"that's the problem, I won't be here. I'm applying to Yale."

"holy shit, that's the other side of the country! That's like hours away, by plane!"

Effie exasperated as she started pacing the room at the news.

"I know, that's the issue. I don't know what Sam will think, I haven't told him and I don't know when I will."

Lottie said with tears in her eyes. Effie sat by her sister with a comforting arm around her, she was good at some things when it came to emotions, at least when it came to her own flesh and blood.

"Honestly, I'm shocked that you're willing to take a step as big as that. You're such a domestic goddess and now that you have Sam, I never thought you would even think about going that far. You hate being away from family."

Lottie said with concern.

"I still do but I want to go into finance and this is one of the best colleges to do that. And I know I'm going to Yale because I already got an offer, our school from England arranged everything, I didn't even need to go to the interview, they looked at my records and gave me an offer, I just needed the certificate, I guess due to our circumstance,"

"and how the hell can mom afford this, have you even told her?"

Effie said with more concern at the rate at which things were going. Lottie knew all of this and never said a word to her, it almost hurt.

"I got a scholarship, everything's set, I just need to make the final step, but yes, she's the only one I told about it all,"

Lottie said wiping her face free from the tears.

"I'm so happy for you," Effie said full love, "But like, this is sudden. I can't pretend I'm not sad, and I can't help but think about Sam, will he understand? Is he really mature enough to deal with the distance?"

"I owe it to him to tell him before I do this,"

Lottie said but Effie protested.

"no, Lottie, you don't owe anyone anything when it comes to this. It's your life, and if it's easier for you to do this one thing without the pressure of dealing with Sam, then do it. Sometimes it's okay to be selfish, it's for a good reason."

"now look who's got the wisdom, but I guess I can agree on this one. I thought the same thing, I've spent so much time thinking. And I don't think I could do it if I told him and he didn't want me to. I couldn't bear to see it. So, I'll do it without telling him."

Lottie relented as she stood up to pace the room.

"I need some more time to think," Lottie said in defeat, "I'll definitely tell him after but I need to emotionally prepare for it,"

She sighed as she walked up the stairs to her room. Effie went to the kitchen to throw the envelopes in the bin when she caught a sight of something out of the window. The kitchen looked back onto the woods just like her bedroom did and she was creeped out by it, even more so now that she had heard Dwayne's historical story. If Effie did what her horror comics often did, she would go outside to explore but she wasn't that stupid, that was a work of fiction. She was crazy enough to turn the kitchen light off and watch through the window in darkness though but at least she checked to see if the back door was locked first. At least Sam wouldn't be getting in anytime soon.

"I totally bet this is Edgar creeping around my house, he's weird enough to do that,"

Effie whispered to herself as she watched out the window from behind the kitchen sink, squatting down to conceal herself in case it was anyone suspicious. Then she caught a shadow on the ground and had the feeling it was Edgar.

"this is ridiculous, can guys not take a hint?"

Effie mumbled as she got up and went to the back door to unlock it and confront Edgar and his stalking habits. He was stood at the far side of the lawn where the back of the property linked to the trees of the forest. Effie started walking over the grass.

"no point in trying to hide out, Ed. I can see you in the trees. If you're really this desperate to talk then we can have a conversation about everything but I'm not promising that –"

Effie cut herself off when she walked closer to the trees and realised it wasn't Edgar.

"what the fuck are you doing here?"

Effie said in shock as Dwayne turned around to look down upon her.

"I know you know this place but that doesn't give you a right to trespass on the property, you can get shot for that, weirdly, in this country."

Effie said crossing her arms in defence as she looked up at Dwayne.

"I don't see you out here with a gun, miss Britannia"

Dwayne shrugged as he observed Effie's lack of defensive materials.

"just tell me what you're doing here and leave, I'm sick of being involved in drama for once and I'm trying to stay out the way. If you're here to talk about Edgar just forget it. It was weeks ago and I'm totally over it, him and YOU for that matter. Go play manhood pride somewhere else."

Effie huffed in annoyance as she now put her hands on her hips. Dwayne just raised an eyebrow.

"technically the woods are public access and I'm stood in the woods, not on your lawn, so I'm not really trespassing."

He said with a sly smile trying to rile Effie up, there was little entertainment with being civil sometimes. Or maybe he was just thinking of ways to keep her around, she had been hiding for weeks after all and he could only see her through the windows. He had watched her go home that night after their argument with Edgar and she managed to make it home without any other conflicts at least. She was unaware that there were people out there ready to do her harm and just looking for an excuse to fulfil it and he didn't see so-called truth and justice of the American way guarding her house. Only loitering around to leave her little tokens of sorrow, pathetic, Dwayne thought. So, it was left to him to keep an eye on things.

"no wonder so may asswipes such as yourself slip through the cracks of the law, you make sure you know your little rights down to the tee don't you?"

Effie scoffed in discontent.

"woah, calm down, a few weeks ago you were sticking up for me and now I'm some asswipe criminal?"

Dwayne faltered as he put his hands up in confusion.

"forgive me if I'm really fucking concerned that you of all people would be skulking the woods outside my house on their own, a bit worrying from my perspective. And of course, I stuck up for you, you did save my life once,"

 _Twice_ , Dwayne thought as he remembered that night she leapt off of Hudson's Bluff.

"but it's not a free ticket to be turning up, unannounced, on the back of my lawn in the middle of the night."

Effie huffed again as she shifted from one foot to the other. _She got me there,_ Dwayne thought.

"I feel pretty tied to these woods, I'm gonna be honest with you, sometimes I come here, so what, big deal, like I said, public access."

Dwayne shot back as he was the one crossing his arms in defence now. Effie just snorted in objection to the excuse.

"I get that you like this place, after your story I see why you feel the need to come here for whatever your reasons are, but why right outside my house in particular? This wood has acres of land to it and you choose to come right here? It's fucking weird to me. I remember you said this house was built for your ancestor or whatever, I get that, but I'm telling you nicely, its our house now, and we don't exactly want some random coming here in the middle of the night to stare at it."

Effie said as bluntly but as kindly as she could muster. It was hard having to be the one to handle these situations and she had never been in a situation like this before, telling some dude who saved her life to not stand outside her house in the middle of the night because he had some spiritual like connection to it. _How is one supposed to feel about these things_? She thought.

"and, as you've managed to be honest with me, I'll be honest with you," Effie continued, "these woods terrify me, even looking out the window at them terrifies me. I don't really know why, maybe the nightmares I used to have, but I only came out here to see what your deal was and to tell you not to come back. I don't want to have to keep coming out here, actually, this is the first time I have."

Effie said leaning against a tree and looking towards the ground in shame as she spoke. She felt weird for admitting it to Dwayne but he had to know why she didn't want to have to keep coming out here to drive him away if he always came to the forest; as he insisted, he did.

"I thought you came out here because you thought it was Edgar?"

Dwayne said bluntly.

"yeah, I fucking did, the point is the only reason I'm still out here is to tell you to leave, did you think I would just wonder back inside without any issues?"

Effie shouted in frustration at Dwayne's lack of listening skills. But the reason he had said such a stupid statement was to hide the inner guilt he felt at torturing her psychologically all those months in the hopes she would be driven insane and sent away, or even get the family to leave for the sake of her health. And he didn't know what to say when she told him, to his face, of how scared she was because of it. When he was the cause of everything, what could he say? Even though she knows nothing.

"sorry about your nightmares,"

Was all Dwayne could manage to say at that point.

"thanks, I guess. I've not had them recently so there's no need for pity. There are more important bones to pick anyway."

Effie said with a thoughtful smirk on her face, Dwayne got worried.

"like what?"

He questioned, alert.

"I want to know what the issue is between you and Ed. That night at the concert a few weeks ago nearly made me tear my own hair out so I think I deserve an answer. And don't tell me to ask him, I've picked up on how much you love avoiding questions. I'm not speaking to Edgar at the minute and you're here now so you tell me,"

Dwayne thought little about how he would answer this question but he was expecting it sooner rather than later since that night. He wondered who Effie would ask first and it appeared it was him. So, he was the one who got to push the pendulum in motion.

"your little boyfriend and his stupid friends attacked us last year. That Sam didn't like how Mike had found himself some new pals, and you know how crazy the Frog brothers are, so they came for us. We roughed up the Frogs a bit in the past but that was fooling around, y'know? They think they're the only one's who are allowed around town."

Dwayne said pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and began lighting it up, he offered one to Effie and she surprisingly accepted. He lit them both up and watched Effie take the half-truth story in.

"I can believe Edgar would do anything for Sam, even if it meant attempting to jump you guys, he's surprisingly fearless for a nerd. He even fucking jumped me once, can you believe that?"

Effie said laughing at the memory of the first time she ever walked into the comic book store with Sam and her sister. Even Dwayne laughed in disbelief.

"but even a brotherly dispute that's not Edgar's own is a strange thing to have such a ferocity over. He really hates you, like, I think he would actually kill you. If it was me and my sister for example, he wouldn't go attacking her over it. But what gets me the most, is everything comes back down to Mike. Since I first got here, Mike's name is at the root of every issue. His brother, Edgar, you and your gang. All over Mike being a drug addict."

Effie said shaking her head and taking a drag of the cig. Dwayne looked shocked and let out a loud laugh.

"who the fuck told you he was a drug addict?" Dwayne questioned in amusement.

"you did Sherlock. When I was at Hudson's Bluff sleepwalking."

Effie said rolling her eyes. Dwayne immediately cut his laugher off and inwardly cursed himself for letting his guard down. He had twisted things so much he couldn't even keep track of himself.

"right, yeah," was all Dwayne could say to save face.

"I only slightly believe you. There's got to be more to it, or maybe Edgar really is that crazy. I don't know, maybe I should start trying to find answers again. I went about it wrong last time and went to Mike myself but he's just an ass. I should talk to Sam instead, or at least get Lottie to. But even then, Lottie has a lot to worry about between them at the moment anyway. Shit."

Effie said to herself more than to Dwayne, she was now pacing, as she usually did, lost in thought. Dwayne just watched in amusement, wondering what sort of scheme she would come up with this time.

"I know!"

Effie said with a look of triumph on her face.

"go on, what could you possibly do this time?"

Dwayne said throwing his cigarette to the ground in amusement.

"I'll go to Max's video store and talk to Lucy, Sam and Mike won't be there and she's the only person that could probably do anything for Mike- as his mum she would want to help him, surely."

Dwayne's smile dropped from his face.

 _Shit, I was supposed to keep her away from us, that's something I'm not very good at. And, like David said, he didn't really give a shit abouy what I do, Max is the biggest threat of them all. And Effie is going to wonder right into his store, not for a visit, but to ask about Michael of all people. Max can listen in on how Effie has spent so much time with Mike and me and spill everything she knows, which is already too much. And on top of that, she can allude to the so-called attack on the gang that she knows about, no thanks to me._ Dwayne thought, he needed to take action.

"don't go there, you were supposed to stop messing about in other people's issues, weren't you?"

Dwayne said trying to sound honourable and angry, like a guy protecting his friends secrets, when he had already alluded to some of them.

Effie just scoffed.

"people that stand by watching are just as bad as the people who let this sort of thing happen, I don't see you doing anything for Mike and you're supposed to be his friend."

"you can't force someone to go against what they chose; I would say Mike's condition is…permanent."

Dwayne said in a low voice, wondering how he could stop Effie. He couldn't just walk into Max's after her, he was the one who was supposed to be keeping her away, it would be like walking into a bear trap.

"you said it, bro. You can't force someone to go against what they choose and I CHOOSE to go to Lucy when she's at work, and try and help Mike out. I'll probably go tomorrow night, that way Edgar has less chance of accosting me,"

Effie said more to herself than Dwayne, once again.

"you're a clever one, I'll give you that. Using my own words against me."

Dwayne said in a dry tone. It was almost a compliment.

"And you're usually a sharp minded one but you're not exactly on top form tonight, maybe it's all that time standing in the woods alone like a weirdo. I need to go to bed, night, and don't stay here too long, I'm not coming out here again if I can help it."

Effie said as she turned her back to Dwayne and walked away across the grass. Shit, Dwayne thought, how was he supposed to stop her running in with Max?

"wait, Effie, I'll make you a deal,"

Dwayne shouted across the grass in desperation, Effie looked back and let out a half smile.

"what could you possibly offer me?"

She asked suspiciously. Dwayne pursed his lips and put his head down for a moment in thought, he truly meant what he was going to say, that's how much he wanted to keep Effie out of Max's way. He just needed time to ponder on how much he meant it.

"If you leave Mike's business alone, and his mom, I won't come back here again. I'll leave your house alone; I'll go somewhere else for my…respects to my ancestor."

Dwayne said meaningfully and looking Effie in the eyes. Effie wondered if he had even looked at her in the eyes at all since they had been acquainted with each other. It felt strange all of a sudden, she searched his eyes and she could see he actually meant it, he wasn't being his brooding, monotone self anymore, he was pleading. There was a moment of silence as Dwayne wondered what she would say.

"no can do, I'm afraid. I'd let you live in the damn back yard if it meant doing something good for the Emerson's; even if that help is unwelcomed."

Effie said in an apologetic tone as she turned back around and continued walking. Dwayne wasn't about to give up, he ran after Effie and grabbed her hand. Effie spun around and looked up at Dwayne with confusion and shock.

"When I saved your life, Effie," Dwayne said carefully, even softly, "of course," Effie said without taking her hand away from Dwayne's.

"it's a big deal, right? To do that for someone. Enough for you to stand up to your boyfriend, knowing he hates me, even breaking your relationship. That says to me that you're a person of honour, right?"

Dwayne continued softly.

"of course, it was a big deal. And I'd like to think I have honour,"

Effie chimed as she was loving the compliment.

"exactly, it was a big thing. I did you a huge favour that night so is it really wrong of me to ask a favour in return, besides, you can't put a price on the life of Effie."

Dwayne said with a charm that Effie hadn't even notice before, and she was falling for it a little. The voice, the words, and what he said was true.

"what is it people say to someone that saves them?" Dwayne asked gently, almost in a whisper, Effie knew the answer.

"I owe you my life?" Effie asked almost in a trance.

"so, you could say you owe me your life, right, Effie? But the favour I want isn't as big as your life, it's quite simple actually. Do you think you could do that for me? A very small favour in exchange for saving you?"

Dwayne said, Effie barely noticed how their faces were mere inches apart, with Dwayne still clutching at her hand.

"of course,"

Effie said dreamily.

"then, please stay away from Mike and his mom, that's all you need to do."

Dwayne said, almost millimetres a part from Effie's lips. Effie looked into his eyes and he thought he had her but –

"you're a manipulative little bastard!"

Effie screeched as she kicked Dwayne in the shin, which didn't really affect him at all. He just back away in annoyance that getting into her mind didn't work. Effie tore her hands away and looked at him in disgust.

"yes, Dwayne, you saved my life and now I'm going to save someone else's, your FRIENDS in fact. Consider that the debt I owe you repaid. Fucking asshole, do you not care about Mike? That's so heartless of you."

Effie said with venom in her voice, Dwayne got so frustrated, usually he could keep his emotions in check after all these years of not feeling anything but this was tough. He didn't know if he was more pissed at the fact he had failed to keep Effie away like he had said he would, or the fact she could walk into a nest of snakes and not come out of it.

"heartless is the truth when it comes to me, it doesn't work so well,"

Dwayne said angrily. Effie looked back before she went into her house, Dwayne just smirked, there wasn't anything more she could really say.

"no wonder Edgar and everyone else finds a reason to see you as a monster when you do everything you can to keep your friend from getting help."

Effie said spitefully as she slammed the back door in Dwayne's face and walked out of sight. Dwayne wasn't expecting that. He felt somewhat saddened. But it wasn't over, he would need to take a risk if he was to help her out of this mess.


	17. Chapter 17: The Hint

Chapter 16- The Hint

Lottie sat on the stairs by the phone with her head against the wall. She had no idea how she was going to tell Sam that she had accepted the offer at Yale without telling him in the first place. Her stomach sank at the thought of Sam not wanting to be with her anymore because she had kept such a big secret from him, the idea of trading someone you love so much for the chance at a dream career was a heavy decision.

She finally took a deep breath and grabbed the phone off of the holder and quickly dialled the Emerson's number, she just wanted to bite the bullet and get it over with no matter what happened. Effie was right, she needed to be selfish sometimes, this was her life. Lottie shook her leg up and down impatiently as the phone was still dialing, on the fourth tone she heard Sam's usual energetic voice.

"If it isn't my girlfriend then I don't want to know,"

Sam chirped humorously, Lottie always called at the same time so he knew it would be her, unlike the time old widow Johnson called for his Grandpa and he called her a sexy bitch.

"It's definitely me,"

Lottie rasped, deflated at the conversation she needed to have with Sam. He picked up on the tone of her voice and knew something was wrong.

"I'm coming right over,"

Was all Sam said before he hung up the phone. Lottie knew he would be already running down the dirt path to her house, after these months together there wasn't anything she could hide from him when it came to her feelings. He could read her like a book, he had changed so much from the naive boy that couldn't take hints.

Lottie went to open the back door and she could sense that Sam was already near, a few moments later he was racing around the side of her house and she hugged him tightly.

"I know something's wrong. Is it Effie again? Let me guess, she's finally killed Ed?"

Sam said half joking and half serious. Lottie could feel the tears start to form in her eyes as she pulled away from Sam and took his hand to lead him into the kitchen.

"It's not Effie this time, it's me."

Sam sat down with a look of pain in his eyes at the idea that something could be hurting Lottie so much, it wasn't normal. She was always over sensitive and worrying about everyone but not herself.

"You know you can tell me anything and we will get through it together,"

Sam said with a smile as he gently took Lottie's hand from across the kitchen table. Lottie smiled weakly because she knew he meant it.

"I know I can tell you anything but that doesn't stop me being afraid that maybe this is something that we can't get through."

Lottie said horsley as she let tears fall once again. Sam's face changed to one of equal sadness; he couldn't imagine that anything would ever drive him away from Lottie.

"Don't talk like that, Lottie. I don't even know what it is yet, are you sure this doesn't involve Effie?"

Sam said with fear as he was concerned that maybe Lottie had found out the local secret once and for all and that Effie was hiding somewhere ready to hit him for covering everything up the whole time they had known him.

Lottie pulled her hand away from Sam and her face turned to angry.

"Not everything is about Effie! I can hurt without her being involved, this is about me for once, is that allowed, am I allowed to feel sad without it being the problem of a third party?"

Lottie shouted with frustration. Sam sat back in shock, she had never shouted at him like that before. But he was slightly relieved on the inside that the secret was still intact.

"I'm sorry, Lottie. I didn't mean it like that at all. I just care about your family, especially you, so tell me what it is,"

Sam said reaching out for Lottie's hand again, which she accepted.

"I'm just going to come out with it. I'm going to Yale to study finance. It's all arranged and I didn't tell you because I didn't want to give myself reasons to not chase my dream. If i let you be involved, I wouldn't have gone at all because i would have let my feelings for you decide this part of my future and I didn't want that. But I'm so sorry that I kept this from you and I'm honestly scared for what this means for us because I love you and I don't want the distance to break us up."

Sam kept hold of Lottie's hand but stared blankly at her face, which worried her.

"Please say something, Sam. Be honest,"

Lottie said as she squeezed his hand reassuringly, showing her support of his feelings.

"It's just a huge shock, I-I don't know what to say,"

Sam stuttered.

"Well, yes, shock is a good word for this, you're acknowledging how you feel, what else do you feel?"

Lottie said encouragingly, trying to press Sam for more of a response, he did tend to be clumsy in emotional situations, especially his emotional ones.

"Sad, I just realised how far away Yale is."

Sam said plainly as he looked down at his feet.

"Do you feel angry or disappointed at all? I can deal with sadness and shock,"

Lottie said as she searched his face for a flicker of emotions that would indicate he was hiding his true feelings, he had a tendency to put himself last when it came to people he cared about and she didn't want this to be a time where he pushed himself aside for her sake.

"I guess disappointed but i could never really be angry at you,"

He said as he lifted his head up to meet her gaze. Lottie smiled a little as she knew that Sam understood that she wanted honesty from him. They had worked hard together to get him to realise that it was okay for him to feel his feelings and not hide them to please other people, it was a whole process after his strained relationship with Mike but they had worked through it together and now they could see that he was finally being forthcoming with his true feelings.

"I get that. What part of it are you disappointed in? And if it's because I didn't tell you then I just hope you understand the reasons why I didn't"

"I'm not disappointed that you didn't tell me, I understand why you didn't, I'm just disappointed that you felt like you couldn't tell me. I would never hold you back, I would have been on board from day one."

Sam said as he scooted around the table to hug Lottie.

"I knew deep down you would but I couldn't risk it. I guess I just let my worries get in the way of sense once again, I just want you to know, I kept it a secret so I wouldn't let myself get in the way, not you, Sam."

Lottie laughed bitterly at herself as she held Sam.

"We can figure this out, I'll have to get my own car to come and visit at the weekends, I know Grandpa certainly wouldn't let me borrow his car for a trip like that "

Sam said excitedly, Lottie laughed loudly and looked at him with disbelief.

"It would take you the whole weekend just to get there, Sam. And that's if you pulled two all nighters in a row to get there. You'd have to get a plane. And even then its an eight hour flight and they aren't cheap"

Sadness overtook Lottie again.

"We always have the holidays. How are you going to move there if its by plane?"

Sam asked a little bewildered, it was a big move.

"I'll take a big suitcase and get whatever else I need over there. How do you think people from abroad cope?"

Lottie laughed again, Sam's simple mindedness could always bring a smile to her face.

"I know none of them will cope as strongly as you can,"

He said softly as he planted a kiss on her cheek, he saved the day with his smooth talk.

"That was easier than expected. So, you think we will be okay?"

Lottie asked hesitantly.

"We'll always be ok as long as we stick together, nothing ever worth doing was easy."

Sam smiled as he lead Lottie up to her bedroom.

Effie marched through the boardwalk with a sense of purpose, today she was really going to do something productive. After weeks of being held up in her house avoiding Edgar, she had a new mission. She reflected and found that it was weird that she always needed a project to feel validated but she was always used to looking out for her family and now that Lottie had someone else to watch her back, Effie struggled to find purpose. Especially now that her sister announced she was moving across the country on her own.

In Spite of how many times she had heard that she should keep her nose out of things and that curiosity killed the cat, she saw it as being heroic. Someone had to be willing to make the hard decisions to do good. She liked the whole tough love approach to people and life, Effie often felt like it produced good results whilst also learning lessons.

As she walked closer to the comic book store she felt a weight of sadness. Her and Edgar had been similar in so many ways, especially with the whole heroism thing. Edgar always had to investigate and produce conspiracies, Effie would sit and theorise and plot and after she produced a perfect plan she would go out and execute it, with or without Edgar's help. Most of the time they spent together when they weren't arguing was talking about their theories, their love of comics, planning adventures, making their own stories up and even freaking each other out and then they would become awash with a sense of love and end up having sex. Then after a few days of bliss there would be something to argue over again.

But this time she was determined to not repeat a bad cycle and stay away from Edgar until she had got rid of any feelings for him and getting to the bottom of Mike's problem was a good distraction, and a good deed.

Effie reached Max's video store and opened the door to set off a cheap alarm bell that let the workers know a customer had walked in. The store was pretty quiet and a loud AC system swirled out luke warm air into the shop. Her mom didn't seem to be around and Lucy was behind the counter, no sign of the creepy owner that had stared down Edgar some months ago either. The coast looked clear for her operation.

"Afternoon, Mrs Emerson. I was wondering if you could find some time to talk to me, it's quite urgent."

Effie said with her most polite tone, she really liked Lucy so she didn't even have to fake it like she usually did with the occasional older woman. Lucy looked up from the book keeping and let a warm smile take over her face.

"Please just call me Lucy, we're like family at this point. Is everything okay?"

Lucy asked with a now motherly and concerned expression on her face.

"Things are fine with me but they could be better. I'm actually here to talk about Mike, if you could spare me some time then that would be great. It's something you will definitely want to know,"

Lottie said with a sincere but kind face, she didn't want Lucy to be sad but she knew that she was doing the right thing by reaching out, then Mike can get the help he needs and then the Emerson family would have a chance of being in one piece again.

Lucy looked around nervously aware of some lingering customers but she remembered Max wasn't there.

"We can slip into the back for a few moments, if it's really urgent,"

Lucy said raising a gentle eyebrow at Effie, even when she was scared of what someone was going to say she was still a benevolent force. She lead Effie into the back stockroom with a graceful gesture of her slim arm and put a sign on the desk that read she would be back soon.

The back stock room was dimly lit but stretched out far as shelves upon shelves of videos were piled up. Effie sat on some unopened boxes, probably of the latest videos, and took a deep breath and smiled at Lucy, attempting to be reassuring.

"I'm very worried about Mike," she began, "i know he is out a lot and he has been distant from you guys, it took me a while to figure out what the issue was but after some thinking I decided it would be best for me to reach out to you, as his mom, in order to help him."

"And what have you found out?"

Lucy asked nervously as she stood with her arms crossed, ready to deal with a very confused and emotional Effie, she knew the girl had a tendency to get fired up.

"I know that Mike is on drugs, I can see the signs. And you should confront him and get him some help, he won't listen to me and I think this is his last chance of getting back to his old-self, as Sam puts it."

Effie said with sympathy. But she was shocked that Lucy looked so calm.

"Oh Effie, I'm glad you're so concerned about my boy but he's not doing drugs."

Lucy said and in that moment Effie felt shattered, if not drugs then what? This was the last thing she had to go on when it came to figuring out what was wrong with Mike, and even Dwayne said it was drugs.

"T-then what about all the late nights home and not sleeping and being so defensive and distant from everyone? And he just looks so pale,"

Effie faltered as she tried to piece together the hidden issue but Lucy just placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and sat next to her on some boxes.

"You don't need to worry, Mike is fine. He's just changed, I guess he's grown up. He doesn't want to be seen hanging around his little brother or his mom and Grandpa anymore. And he has a girlfriend now. He doesn't even really live with us anymore."

Effie looked at Lucy weakly and smiled but inside felt defeated. Her sense of purpose had drained from her.

"So he's just an asshole then?"

Effie blurted out, she then looked at Lucy apologetically.

"I'm so sorry, that just came out, I mean, he's just not very personable anymore and really mean sometimes,"

Lucy cut in

"Please don't apologise, I know more than anyone what an asshole he's been but we have to move on with our lives, just like he has moved on with his. But thank you for expressing so much concern and care for my boys, it means a lot to me."

Effie cracked a smile when Lucy said asshole, and even Lucy had a small smile on her face, she never thought she would hear her cuss. But Lucy was so forgiving and actually pretty cool. No wonder her mom liked her so much and that Sam displayed a lot of affection for her. Maybe Lucy was where Sam got his sensitive side from. He even resembles her in a lot of ways, but Mike didn't appear to have any Lucy in him one bit.

"It's no problem. Sam is one of my best friends and, like you said, we're practically family. I'll see you around."

Effie said with a smile as she walked out for the stockroom to the front door. Lucy waved her away but had to hide the massive shame she felt about lying to her. But Effie was a smart girl and hopefully Lucy's hint was enough for her to pick up on and help her figure out what was really going on in Santa Carla.

Lucy turned off the light in the stock room and was just about to close the door.

"Did you give her the hint?"

A voice that sounded like honey rasped from the stockroom.

"Yes, do you think she will figure this out on her own?"

Lucy said with slight concern.

"There's only so much more she can do and I know she won't give up. But she's not really on her own, I've been guiding her most of the way."

Lucy sighed, "you're playing a dangerous game, aren't you worried for yourself?"

"Worry is futile at this point, this was always going to come out one way or another, I was just interested in seeing what way,"

Lucy rolled her eyes, "well it's certainly interesting that the way it's coming out has Max's eldest son at the root of it. I don't even know how he'll take that kind of betrayal. What did you do to get him away from the store?"

"I had to use alternative resources."

"You went to the Frog boy didn't you?" Lucy asked with sadness, when will the games ever end? She thought.

"He's certainly an invaluable asset when Effie is involved. I'll see you around,"

"Good bye, Dwayne,"

Lucy said as she shut the door to the stockroom.


	18. Chapter 18: Skip Town

Chapter 18 - Skip town

A few days earlier

Edgar was closing the shop, no one had been in for the last hour and it was getting close to midnight. He gave Alan an early night because Alan had been picking up the slack around the shop whenever Edgar had left on account of Effie. Edgar was just about the turn the lock when Dwayne showed up at the door. Edgar didn't know what to do, Mike used to come directly to the comic book shop looking for Sam and sometimes Star would follow but that hadn't happened in months but Dwayne never turned up out of nowhere on his own.

Edgar held the door closed with all his might as Dwayne pushed it open to get in but there was no use, Dwayne was a very strong guy. Edgar ran and jumped over the counter to take cover with his water gun full of holy water. He didn't think Dwayne would outright kill him in this fashion but he knew he was up to something. He was definitely panicking, which was not his forté.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing here, blood sucker? You can't be stupid enough to attack me in my own home, there are people still walking about outside and Alan is upstairs and if he hears you he'll come down and - hey - don't touch those!"

Edgar shrieked as he saw Dwayne fingering at the new superman comic, he had even taken it out of its plastic packaging, damaging the value of the comic immediately.

"Calm your nerd tits."

Dwayne said calmly as he threw the comic book onto the floor. Edgar couldn't stand to see it so he abandoned his post and scrambled after the comic book and put it back in its packaging.

"What the fuck do you want,"

Edgar said as he rushed back behind his desk with the comic book and guarding himself with the water gun again.

"Don't even try to insult me with a water gun,"

Dwayne smirked as he leaned against a rack of comics.

"You know this will hurt you even if it isn't enough to kill you,"

Edgar said thinking that maybe the small amount of water would only cause superficial damage. He wished Alan would sense what was happening and help him with this beast.

"And what would happen to you if you did try to kill me? A one versus one between us isn't a progressive thing to do, you'd only get hunted down by everyone. It's not the same when we aren't found asleep."

Dwayne said maliciously hinting to the time he and Alan and Sam hunted them down to Hudson's bluff and nearly killed Marko.

"I heard you've set a fair number of traps since then. Funny how someone whose been alive for hundreds of years didn't have the common sense to set them in the first place," 

Edgar jeered hoping to wind Dwayne up, knowing there would be no showdown tonight.

"Before you and your freak brother no one was sad or pathetic enough to dedicate their lives to searching for common myth."

Dwayne shot back with a cool effort, Edgar's face twisted into disgust.

"And yet here the myth is bothering me in my own home. But, I didn't invite you in!"

Edgar said with fear in his voice, had Dwayne evolved, was there some sort of dead mutation that he didn't know about?

"You left your please come in sign in the window, idiot. That welcomes everyone in, it doesn't have to be as hard as "you're invited," when all the shops have those signs hanging in them at night."

Dwayne said shaking his head in amusement, "whose the one lacking common sense now, vampire Rambo?" Dwayne mocked as he laughed bitterly to himself.

"Just tell me what the fuck you want before I do actually decide to kill you,"

Edgar said with venom in his voice as he now held both water guns, it would be a funny sight for Dwayne if holy water didn't make feel like his skin was being peeled off of his bones slowly.

"You need to help Effie,"

"What the fuck did you do to her?" Edgar said getting braver at the prospect of Effie being in danger.

"What makes you think I would do anything to her?"

Dwayne shot back mildly offended, but he realised that his interest in Effie wasn't exactly public knowledge and if he wasn't careful he could be found out.

"Because you're a dead succubus who feeds off of human lives? You've been hanging around her a lot recently so how do I know you haven't selected her to be one of your victims."

Edgar spat as he drew closer to Dwayne, who just remained emotionless and unmoving. Unstoppable force and immovable object comes to mind.

"If I was going to hurt her it would be a lot more thrilling than me coming to tell you that I had, give me some more credit."

Dwayne said trying to save face for his offense at the notion that he would hurt her anymore.

"Then what's wrong with her?"

"She's going to the video store to talk to Lucy about Mike, she's still on a mission to find out what's going on, and you can bet Max will be there."

Dwayne said with a tone of seriousness in his voice, but Edgar only got more nervous.

"Looks like you two have had more heart to hearts than I realised,"

Edgar said angrily, full of jealousy at the fact Effie saw anything in Dwayne that would make her open up to him.

"I think you're missing the point," Dwayne said raising an eyebrow in impatience.

"Max. I know he's the dogs bollocks around your end of things but didn't you come to an agreement? Mike turns, and Lucy and Sam are left alone. He can't do anything to Effie, she doesn't know anything."

Edgar said hesitantly, why would Max be such a problem? He thought all of this was buried over a year ago.

"Which is why I'm here with some information. It doesn't matter to Max that Effie doesn't know anything, it's the fact that her and her family are here in the first place and that the twins are involved with the Emmersons. We all knew Effie was a problem, she's not as passive as her sister. Max would have happily let Sam and Lottie ride off into the sunset together because Lottie doesn't ask questions. But Effie is an issue, so I was charged with getting her to stay away, pretty permanently."

Edgar saw red and went to attack Dwayne but Dwaye could already sense this and dodged out of Edgar's way and managed to twist his arms back and get rid of the water guns. They ended up on the other side of the room and Edgar was now pinned against a wall with Dwayne holding his arms behind his back.

"I fucking knew you were after her. You were the one behind those nightmares of hers weren't you?"

Edgar raged. Dwayne just carried on his story without bother.

"To cut a long story short, I wasn't very good at that job and she's still around. But Max doesn't know how close she's been and when she goes in there presenting all of her findings to Lucy, he will kill her himself."

Edgar stopped resisting Dwayne and slumped against the wall in defeat. He was worried sick about what could happen to Effie, things were worse than he thought. He couldn't keep her away from mixing with them and even if he could control her, bloodsuckers like Dwayne would always find their way to her. He questioned if he even wanted to know how many times she had met with Dwayne and he hadn't known, it broke his heart. But he could never tell her the truth because he couldn't live with himself being the reason she was in danger, now it seemed Dwayne was the reason, but somehow that made him feel worse.

"So what the fuck do you think I can do? She doesn't want anything to do with me and I'm sure Max doesn't. Why didn't you just get rid of her anyway?"

Edgar said flatly as his head started to fill with questions but his heart still weighed heavy in his chest.

"I need you as bait,"

Edgar got riled up again and started trying to get out of Dwayne's iron grip

"Think about Effie. Nothing will happen to you, I just need you to pretend to sneak into the cave at Hudson's bluff, I'll get Max to be there, and then I'll make out that I'm chasing you off. He wouldn't leave his store without a good reason and if he thinks you're creeping about again he will surely listen," Dwayne said with confidence.

Edgar was still flailing about.

"And what stops you from just ripping my throat out after this so-called chase of yours? I'd never trust a bloodsucker!"

Edgar raved as he continued fighting against Dwayne.

Dwayne let out a long sigh at the irrational nature of humans like Edgar, "You can't trust me but you can trust that I wouldn't do anything to make Effie more suspicious,"

Edgar stopped fighting at the mention of Effie, he was going to do this for her after all, if it meant keeping her from Max's clutches then he would do almost anything - even making a deal with the devil.

"I don't trust anything you say but I'll do it for her."

Dwayne let go of Edgar and watched him back away still full of defense and fear, he was unarmed.

"Good boy. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you let yourself have a weakness."

Dwayne chuckled but Edgar didn't respond because he knew Dwayne was right, he wasn't used to having vulnerabilities for people to use against him. Yes he had the comics and his brother but they weren't the same as having someone you loved for the first time in your life being dangled on a string in front of you.

"So how do you suggest we make this 'chase' work. I'm assuming this will take place at night,"

Edgar questioned as he positioned himself behind the counter yet again, he still wanted to feel like there was something between himself and the undead. Dwayne leaned against the wall and lit up a cigarette as he hatched a plan.

"No doubt Effie always heads to the boardwalk at night, so there's no need to force her out, I'll just need to keep an eye on her. The night she goes down, I'll signal you through the window, you'll need to get to Hudson's bluff quick. I'll find Max and tell him you're snooping around. He'll come with me to the cliffs, I'll make out that I'm going after you."

"What's stopping Max from getting to me himself?"

Edgar asked nervously. Dwayne paused for a minute.

"He trusts me, he'll know I'll get rid of you."

Dwayne said as he took a long drag. Edgar crumpled his face in confusion.

"Won't he see me at the comic book shop after all this happens? He'll know you've not really killed me, you haven't really thought this through,"

"That's where you're wrong,"

Dwayne said menacingly as he walked up to Edgar and blew smoke in his face. Edgar refused to flinch away, there was no room for weakness.

"You're going to have to skip town, disappear. You have time to get whatever you want together because you're leaving," Dwayne smirked.

Edgar's face fell and he almost wanted to hop onto the counter and attack Dwayne all over again but he was too confused to fully think about what to say or do. Leave everything behind? He thought.

"But the comic book shop is my life,"

Was all Edgar could say with the deepest morbidity at the prospect of leaving it all behind.

"Your brother can run it,"

Dwayne chimed in with a shrug of his shoulders.

"No way, Alan's coming with me,"

Edgar shot back.

"Then your stoner parents,"

Dwayne proposed with sarcasm.

"Where do you even plan for me to go? I don't know anything other than Santa Carla, I don't own a car, I don't have a lot of money, and what do I say to Sam and Effie?"

Edgar said more to himself than to Dwayne.

"You're going to Luna Bay. There's an abandoned RV in the outskirts. You can go there, and you said I hadn't thought this through,"

Dwayne laughed as he flicked the cigarette butt onto the floor, much to Edgar's dismay but he reminded himself to keep a cool head as this was a life or death situation.

"Also, tell your little friends what they want but don't step foot in Santa Carla again,"

Dwayne turned to walk out of the shop but Edgar piped up.

"Hang on, how do I get away from you at Hudson's Bluff? I can't get away without running straight past you and Max. It would be too obvious when he sees your doing so little to pursue me,"

Dwayne turned with a wicked twinkle in his eye.

"You'll have to make the jump and hope you survive,"

And without further pause, Dwayne walked out of the shop.

He was right, Edgar thought, he said he wouldn't kill me but he didn't say the sea wouldn't.

A few days later

 _ **Turn around**_

 _ **Look at what you see**_

 _ **In her face**_

 _ **The mirror of your dreams**_

 _ **Rhymes that keep their secrets**_

 _ **Will unfold behind the clouds**_

 _ **And there upon a rainbow**_

 _ **Is the answer to a never ending story**_

 _ **Ah**_

 _ **Story**_

 **Ah**

"Are you watching that film again? That means there's something wrong,"

Lottie complained as she came downstairs to moan about the noise. Effie looked at her disgruntled and muted the TV. She sat underneath the crocheted blanket that Lottie had made and looked defeated.

"Going to Lucy was another dead end. She said Mike isn't on drugs,"

Effie sulked as she continued watching the muted credits of Never Ending Story.

"Usually this film cheers you up no matter what's going on so this must be getting to you more than I realised,"

Lottie sighed as she sat near Effie's feet on the other end of the couch.

"At least you got everything sorted out with Sam, I knew you would be okay."

Effie smiled weakly as she turned the TV off.

Suddenly the back door burst open and Sam came running into the living room at high speed. Effie looked slightly mad at the intrusion.

"What the fuck," She muttered.

"Guys, Edgar and Alan have gone missing! I tried to call them, no one answered. I went down to the shop, his parents were there and said they haven't seen them in 3 days!"

Sam exasperated as he tried to catch his breath.

"Shouldn't we call the police!" Lottie said urgently as she stood up and went to comfort Sam.

"I wouldn't get the police involved just yet, they could have gone anywhere for any reason, we have a lot of enemies in Santa Carla,"

Sam said reluctantly.

"You mean those guys on the bikes?"

Lottie asked in a concerned tone.

"Exactly, they wouldn't have left without a good reason. We need to find them!"

Sam croaked as he paced the living room. Effie was leaning on the back of the couch biting her lip, she saw Lottie look at her as if she knew something they didn't.

"I actually got a letter from Ed a few days ago. He hasn't sent me any in a few weeks, I thought he got the hint that I wanted him to stay away; but I ended up getting another one. I haven't opened it,"

Effie confessed biting at her fingernails, nervous about what the letter could contain.

"Thank God you didn't throw that one away like all the others, go and find it! It could tell us what happened to him and Alan,"

Lottie urged as Effie went running up the stairs and racing back down with the letter. Sam sat on the couch with his head in his hands in anticipation. Effie stood in front of the couple and ripped open the envelope.

"

 _Effie,_

 _I'm not good with words and you haven't responded to any of my other letters, but I hope you give this one a chance._

 _Me and Alan have skipped town and I don't know when we can come back. You're the only person I'm reaching out to because it would hurt too much to say this to Sam as well._

 _I thought about telling you where we are but it wouldn't be good for you to know, I don't want you coming out here and getting into trouble. So, unfortunately, I won't disclose our location._

 _It's not because I don't want to see you, it's because I know that when you do find me you will know all there is to know and you'll be prepared to see me again and that you have managed to fight your way out of the evils in Santa Carla._

 _Until the day you know everything about me and that town, we won't see each other again. I told myself that maybe that's a good thing because you didn't want to see me anyway. Don't take this as a hint to go out finding more trouble for yourself, I just believe that the truth always comes out eventually, so live your life whilst you can._

 _I do hope you see this letter. If you don't, then all I can do is sit and wait for you to find me. But trust that if I ever hear that anything happens to you, then I will find you._

 _If I never see you again, trust that I loved you._

 _Best Regards and...love_

 _Edgar Frog_

 _P.S i left a note for my parents telling them that if you come into the store, you can have any comic you want, whenever you want- free of charge. "_

There was a brief silence.

"They really left,"

Sam cried as he let a tear roll down his cheek, Lottie wiped it away and hugged him.

"There's no return address, so we definitely wouldn't know where to start in order to find them. What could be that bad that they have to leave?"

Effie started questioning. Lottie shot her a glare.

"Ed said to not go looking for trouble and you're already digging for motives?"

Lottie chastised. Effie rolled her eyes.

"So we just sit back and let them live out on the streets in some random town?"

Effie shouted.

"He clearly doesn't want to be found. Why don't you just listen to other people for once? He's clearly in danger and he blatantly indicated that if you go looking for him without knowing whatever cryptic secret he has, that you'll also be in danger!"

Lottie shouted back. Sam ended up getting in the middle.

"Ladies, cool it. We've lost enough."

Was all Sam could say without feeling like a hypocrite. He knew everything there was to know about the lost boys and he knew they were behind the Frogs leaving, he just didn't know the most recent bust up, but it must have been serious.

"Sam's right. I'm really sorry, Effie, I just don't want you to be hurt anymore."

Effie sat on the floor. She felt like she wanted to cry but the tears weren't coming. She realised how much she missed Ed, even Alan, being around now that they were gone for good. She couldn't get the words 'remember i loved you,' out of her head. He really did have feelings after all. In her own way maybe she loved him too, despite the fact they weren't meant to be together. Finding Edgar would be the new challenge she needed to dedicate herself too but this time she wasn't so excited.

"It's fine. You're leaving in two weeks and you don't want your last memories of this place to be of this."

Effie smiled up at her sister. Lottie lent her a hand and helped her up from the floor. Effie turned to Sam.

"Do we really just do nothing, Sammy? They're your best friends and they're out there somewhere."

Lottie questioned, she hoped that Sam would be more proactive at the idea of getting to the bottom of their disappearance.

"Honestly, I trust them. For whatever reason they left, it was a good one. We just need to trust that and hope that we'll get to them eventually. But for now, we should give Lottie a good final few weeks before she goes to Yale. In fact, why don't we all go to the ice cream parlour, we go do with cooling down after all of that."

Sam suggested trying to force a smile across his face. Lottie gladly accepted the invitation and went to get ready.

"I'm going to sit this one out, I'm still in shock."

Effie said casually and sat on the couch eyeing Sam up, she was not convinced that he was truly okay with leaving Edgar and Alan out there all alone without any explanation. They way he barged in showed how scared and worried he was, so why did he become rational all of a sudden? Effie thought.

"Are you sure? You haven't left the house in forever,"

Sam laughed as he leaned against the door frame. Effie took the change to sink her teeth into what Sam and his unconvincing display of emotion. She only just realised that whenever his brother came up or the past before she and Lottie got to Santa Carla, he played it down and was dismissive but his boyish jokes and his immaturity were enough to get Effie to think he was just simple minded. Now his outburst about the Frogs being missing proved Sam had more worries than he let on.

"I did leave the house a few days ago actually, I went to talk to your mom in the video store about Mike."

Effie said passively whilst she observed Sam for any micro reaction that would give him away, she noticed he stiffened up slightly and gave her eye contact too quickly for her liking. Usually Sam was restless and let his eyes linger around because he wasn't a serious guy, but now he seemed focused.

"Oh really? What could be so interesting about Mike?"

Sam laughed awkwardly.

"He's very interesting actually, Sam. Very flighty, bipolar even. I was concerned and actually told your mom i thought he was on drugs, but she assured me he wasn't, so that's good."

Effie said with a sweet smile on her face, watching Sam become more like a statue with every word he said.

"Oh, what else did she say?"

"She just said that Mike is fine and he's just wanting to break away from his family, because he's apparently super grown up now and doesn't even live with you anymore,"

Effie smiled but then her face dropped as she went back to the time she started confronting Mike outside of her house and telling him to stop waking her up with his motorbike, Lucy's words echoed through her head and things she had said to Mike when she first moved here.

" _He doesn't really live with us anymore,"_

" _Where do you even go to every night?"_

" _It's all the time, what do you do all night?"_

 _The nights I would watch him from the window and the morning I went out to confront him on his bike…_

"He was leaving home, not going home,"

Effie muttered to herself.

"What?"

Sam asked with confusion as she snapped out of her flashback.

"I was so tired out that I thought he was coming up the path to go home but he was going down the path, he was going out not coming in,"

Effie still muttered to herself. 

"Effie, what the hell are you talking about?"

Sam said waving a sweaty hand in front of her face.

"Where does Mike live then, since he hasn't been at home 'really' in so long?"

Effie questioned more seriously as she crossed her arms. Sam scanned his brain with his eyes for a response, at that moment she knew something was wrong. Surely Sam would know where his own brother lived, and if he did, it would be as easy as saying so.

"Um, I honestly don't know, I think he just couch surfs around his buds, or maybe he stays with Star,"

Sam said hesitantly, but in that moment Lottie came and saved him from further interrogation as she announced she was ready. After saying their goodbyes, Effie wondered up to her bedroom.

"Looks like I have a new lead,"

She chuckled to herself.


	19. Chapter 19: Once Upon A Dream

Chapter 19 - Once Upon A Dream

The grandfather clock struck 10pm and Effie was ready. Her mom was asleep, Lottie was staying at Sam's and she knew there was no chance of bumping into the Frog brothers who; would chastise her for going out on her own. This time she was going solo.

It was only two days before Lottie was leaving to move across the country to Yale. Everything had been so hectic that Effie had the time to sneak out and pull her plan together, she needed to blend into the crowd more.

She had gotten black hair dye and dark clothes to match, she would just be another punk straying around the boardwalk at night and no one would question it. Previously she had stuck out like a sore thumb with her permed hair and her love of denim. Now she had straightened her hair out and dyed it and she wore all leather, perfect way to blend in with the delinquents. And without her colourful friends like the Frog brothers and Sam who loved a bright ugly shirt, and her twin to give her away, she was anonymous.

Effie looked at herself in the mirror before she headed out and soaked up her look.

"I guess Raven is a good alter ego name for tonight,"

She laughed to herself before she realised she was on a serious investigation. She even put a switch blade knife into her pocket that Edgar had gifted to her once. She was shocked to find herself kiss it for good luck before sliding it into her breast pocket inside the leather jacket.

It was the weekend and the broadwalk was full of undesirables which made it the perfect night to blend into the shadows and also the perfect night to find Mike hanging about. Whether he would be with Star or his friends was another factor remained to be seen. He usually started his night down by the rides and so Effie headed there with her head down and her eyes peeled.

She must have waited for 20 minutes before Mike showed up, he came on foot and in that time Effie had grabbed a doughnut and was sitting on a bench waiting. Quickly, she turned and stood near a big group of goths to blend in. Mike was stood maybe 25 feet away from her on his own leaning against a wall smoking a cigarette.

After another 10 minutes he started moving. Effie threw her doughnut wrapper on the floor, to the judgement of some hippies nearby, and followed Mike at a healthy distance. He ended up near the carousel and was now with Star. Effie soon grabbed a coffee after having to watch Mike and Star go around the carousel five more times before they got off, it looked like Star loved it. Couldn't imagine Edgar being that sweet, she thought.

Effie tracked the time of her watch, well, the watch she stole from her organised and punctual twin sister. 11: 20pm. She followed Star and Mike to the street stalls and tents in the centre of the broadwalk and realised it was just more of Star floating around and Mike following suit. He must really love her, she thought, almost envious.

Another hour passed and they ended up on the beach. Effie was on her third coffee of the night and ended up bumming cigarettes off of randoms just to pass the time. Stalking was harder than she imagined and staying focused certainly was. It was odd to Effie seeing Mike in this light, just being himself with someone he loved, no friends, no assholeness. She imagined this is what he was like before, fun and up for a laugh, only with Sam and not these people that seemed to have taken him away from that.

1am hit and Effie was still buzzed from the coffee and ended up needing to pee really bad, luckily Mike and Star ended up in an arcade with toilets. She managed to squeeze in some games of pac man before they move onto the courtyard, Effie was pretty hungry herself so she thought it was a good call on their part. After grabbing a hot dog she sat at the other end of the court watching. 45 minutes passed and Effie was onto a burger but Mike and Star never moved to eat or drink anything. Crazy, she thought. Running around all night being cute together should be draining, she said under her breath.

At 2: 30 am Mike and Star walked off heading away from the boardwalk. Now they must be leaving, she thought exhaustedly. But soon Effie realised she fucked up when she saw Mike ride off on his bike with Star on the back. FUCK, she thought. HOW CAN I CATCH THEM? And as if by some divine miracle she saw some kids lurking about the car park and without thinking she went and picked up one of their bicycles from the ground and started riding off in pursuit of Mike and Star.

Very colorful words were launched at her and possibly a can of coca cola but she was determined to carry on. At least I don't have a gang of 12 year olds following me, she thought as she cycled out of town.

She could make out the light of Mike's motorbike in the distance as she ended up on a steep road outside of town, she followed past some run down housing projects but still had the magnificent view of the ocean to her other side. I know this area, she thought, this is Hudson's Bluff where I was sleepwalking, she remembered. Rumours in the newspapers claimed that people went missing out here and so it was desolate most of the time, aside from cliff divers that often ended up disappearing of their own accord.

Anyone would be lucky to survive that jump, she thought.

She lost sight of the light on Mike's bike as the surrounding road became twisted to follow the curvature of the jagged cliffs but she was still a fair distance behind them and had some catching up to do. When she finally reached the top of Hudson's she couldn't find Mike or Star but his bike was left near some wooden steps.

Effie ditched the kid's bike and made her way to read the rusted sign that was hanging by chains across some loose and unsavory wooden railings that were linked to some rotten wooden stairs. It simply read danger, keep out. The wind swept her black hair and a chill took over her body as the only light came from the oscillating lighthouse and the stars above. They must have gone down here, she thought. And she was crazy enough to risk it, she felt like there was something to be uncovered by following them to such an abandoned place, why would they even come here? She muttered under her breath as she climbed over the sign and made her way down the rickety old stairs.

The moon looked so close to the sea as Effie descended the stairs admiring the beauty. It looked like an oil painting. Something so beautiful so close to danger. As Effie reached the bottom of the stairs, still captivated by the moon, she didn't notice a figure emerge from the mouth of the cave.

"So you've finally come to see," an airy voice spoke from behind Effie.

She turned to see it was Star, she hadn't spoken to her the whole time she had been in Santa Carla. It was an awkward encounter. Effie realised she didn't know what her opinion of Star was other than it was clear she loved Mike.

"I wanted to know where Mike was staying. What was keeping him from his home,"

Effie said bluntly whilst trying to test the ground for Star's character.

"This is his home, we can't exactly live in normal houses,"

Star said with a gentle but confused expression across her fragile face.

"Why can't you live in normal houses, don't you have any money?"

Effie said with sympathy in her voice, maybe Mike was just a homeless bum, she thought. But Star's expression darkened and Effie was a little paranoid.

"You don't know, do you?" Star gasped.

"Well, I've been trying to find out what's wrong with Mike the whole time I've been here but I never seem to get to the bottom of it. You're his girlfriend so can you clear the air and tell me why he's never around anymore, why he isn't at home?"

Effie said kindly with a gesture of her hands to show she came in peace as Star started to frantically glanced around. Whether it was to make sure there was no danger or that no one was around to witness the danger, Effie couldn't put her finger on yet.

"You need to leave. Any life is better than getting trapped with Michael and me. I'll say I didn't see you, just go!"

Star shrieked as she started trying to push Effie back up the wooden stairs where she had come from. Effie was really pissed off and shoved Star back.

"Oh fuck off, I'm sick of people hiding things. Just tell me what's going on and I'll leave, I just need an answer! Dwayne confirmed Mike was on drugs but when i went to the video store his mom said he was fine and he had just moved out, I come to see where he lived and I'm at some cave with you pushing me away telling me there's a trap? Are you sure you're not on drugs?"

Effie fired at Star as she circled her to show she wasn't going to be pushed away so easily.

"Dwayne's being speaking to you? Didn't he try to, y'know, get rid of you?"

Star asked with a stark shock spread across her face, her pale brow furrowed.

"Get rid of me? The guy saved me life, I think you have him mistaken with that Marko, he was the one who tried to run me over,"

Effie said defensively as she crossed her arms, and raised her eyebrows. Her voice had a slight trepidation in it, why was this chick getting everything wrong? She thought. Star stared blankly at Effie.

"What has Dwayne being telling you?" Star asked horsley.

"I came here to ask the questions."

"You need to stop. If you keep chasing after us then you'll only be endangering us as well, this whole thing is bigger than you, I can't let anyone see you so please just go!"

Star shouted again trying to get Effie away. But both girls were frozen to the spot when they heard a small voice.

"Star, what are you doing?"

The small voice asked. A young boy also emerged from the cave, it was Laddie, Effie thought with more confusion going around her head.

"Dwayne's brother is here? What is he doing with you and Mike, in a cave? You better start answering my questions."

Effie shot at Star, but Star backtracked to Laddie trying to urge him to go back inside. Once Star had got Laddied out of the way, she turned to Effie with a new expression on her face, one that Effie couldn't put her hands on.

"Laddie's seen you here, there's no going back from that. You're messing everything up for all of us, why don't you just leave?"

Star said menacingly as she started closing in on Effie. Effie had no fight in her because the whole mood had changed and she felt threatened. She could sense there was something big going on and that's why everyone was keeping secrets and it appeared bigger than she thought.

"Like Edgar and Alan did? Are you seriously trying to drive me out without good reason? Why do you and Mike act like I'm so volatile, if you tell me that then maybe I'll consider it. I hate Santa Carla anyway,"

Effie said broodingly as she considered moving to New Haven with her sister away from this place, Edgar and Alan were gone and Mike was a lost cause.

"Even if I could tell you, you would still come back. You don't know when to give up, and it will only be the end of your life anyway, one way or another,"

Before Effie could respond, something in Star changed. Effie stumbled back as Star began to look paler by the second. Her skin turned almost translucent and her eyes turned dark. Effie began to hyperventilate with fear as she couldn't comprehend what was happening, was Star sick, was she having a seizure? She thought. No, she's still standing and drawing closer.

Before she could stop herself, Effie felt her bladder go as she couldn't tear her eyes away from Star transforming into some sort of demonic presence. Effie remembered her night terrors and how the monster in them looked, Star appeared to be transforming into just that. With no room for embarrassment at her accident, Effie was paralysed and failed to even let out a cry for help. There was nothing around for miles, just the moon, the sea and the cliffs.

Effie scrambled back further and began to let silent tears fall from her eyes. She couldn't tell if all of this night was one of her lucid dreams or if she was actually living her nightmare. Star, whatever she had turned into, closed in on Effie and backed her up the edge of the cliff with little room for escape.

With a hissing sound that mocked a snake and the pale and dead arm of what Effie assumed was Star underneath the horrifying creature in her face, Effie was grabbed by the throat and pushed with inhuman force off of the edge of the cliff and sent spiralling down to the sea below. Without fear being the last thing to overtake her conscience, Effie was thinking how she could have heard Star whispering that it was 'better this way,' before she had pushed her from the cliff. For a moment Effie believed those ghostly words, she didn't feel like she had much purpose anymore. Edgar and Alan had gone, her sister was moving, Sam would no doubt be of any comfort to her and Mike was an anomaly. She just didn't feel like there was anything left and with that she let herself fall.

The speed at which she was falling was taking her breath away and leading her to unconsciousness. Maybe it would be a peaceful death after all. Before her eyes fully closed she could see a massive shadow plummeting towards her, it appeared to have its arms reached out towards her. Maybe it's death himself, she thought in a delirious state.

Death caught her in its arms and carried her away above the cliff tops and away from the view of the sea. If this is being dead then it was honestly easier than I thought, Effie's conscience said to herself. Strangely, death looked a lot like the monstrous form that Star had taken on befores he killed but somehow this one looked different and she wasn't afraid because, she was dead, there wasn't any need to be afraid anymore.

However long had passed, Effie woke up in the forest behind her house. Or at least in some part of it, she had heard that when you die sometimes you don't always cross over and you can be tied to a place in some form of purgatorial existence. She also spotted a familiar face.

"Dwayne?"

She whispered apprehensively.

"You're not dead Effie, but you nearly were, again."

Dwayne said bluntly. He was leaning against a tree as Effie sat up and looked around her.

"How am I not dead, I was pushed from the cliff top. Or maybe it was a crazy dream. Please tell me I was just sleep walking again,"

She said with images in her mind of the horrible being that Star had morphed into infront of her very eyes.

"You weren't sleepwalking,"

Dwayne said calmly. He watched as Effie's face contorted into despair.

"So you're telling me that THING was Star and she really tried to kill me?" And then Effie started chuckling, "and here I was thinking you didn't have a sense of humour, very funny, Dwayne."

"You must have figured it out by now, Effie."

"All I know is I must be crazy." she sighed.

Dwayne took a deep breath and pulled out what looked like an ancient American peace pipe from the pocket of his leather jacket.

"You might need some of this,"

He said as he sat next to Effie on the forest floor. She looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"I don't really have a tolerance for that stuff," Effie smirked.

"This isn't like anything you've had before, believe me, and I need you open minded."

Dwayne said as he took out a lighter and started to blaze up the pipe, he passed it to Effie who received it hesitantly.

"I don't even know what I'm doing anymore so what the hell, right?"

Effie shrugged her shoulders as she lit up the pipe and before she knew it everything looked like it started to melt away.

Everything but the forest.

"Dwayne?"

Effie shouted as her voice echoed into the woods. She scrambled around trying to find him, she didn't know what was going on. It was like she was in a dream, watching herself in someone else's body. The night was so dark and the moon appeared to be mocking her. It was so bright and she felt like her light was fading.

She caught sight of what she thought was Dwayne wandering into an opening between some trees and so she ran after him, still shouting. On hot pursuit she ran to follow his trail and ignored bracken and branches scratching her skin, she was too lost to care, she needed to find him.

The moon appeared to be stalking her as she came into a clearing with willow trees and the moon's beam shone straight out into the opening. She could see Dwayne waiting under a willow tree but he somehow looked different, very different. He had face paint on but his hair was still long and messy, it looked like he was wearing some sort of costume.

"Dwayne!"

She shouted again to try and get his attention, she waved her arms at him from underneath a sycamore tree but he didn't seem to see her. Soon someone else emerged, a girl with blonde hair wearing a long dress.

"Who is that?!"

Effie shouted again but to no avail, there was no way they could hear her but as she tried to move forward towards them, her feet kept her planted to the spot. She watched as the girl and Dwayne embraced each other. Effie tried to open her mouth to speak but she couldn't control her own body any longer. She could hear Dwayne and the girl speak as if she was standing right next to them - all she seemed to be able to do was watch.

More people started to emerge from the trees, people with painted faces and furs over their bodies chanting and carrying candles and what looked like burning sage which gave the clearing a heavy aroma. Flowers were scattered around the forest floor at the feet of Dwayne and the mysterious girl. A woman brought a bowl of water and began to chant over it and then sprinkle the area around them and the pair washed their hands in the bowl as the other figures carried on chanting. It was a beautiful sound. People started laying what looked like offerings under the tree near Dwayne and the girl. Soon the chanting stopped and the old woman who previously carried the basin now wore an exotic headdress made of feathers and began to speak.

 _My brothers and sisters, there are times in this world of ours that challenge us and these recent months and been hard and long. One thing we can believe in is that the world changes and the only thing that remains constant in this world is our spirit. The ancestors and elders look down on us today in this sacred forest and guide us. Tonight, under this full and ancient moon, we bond two spirits together with the blessing of these ancestors. We are at the pinnacle of change in our world but we must always listen to our hearts to guide us. At this point in our equinox, two spirits have been intertwined together, and our great Chief, through the wisdom of our ancestors, blesses this ceremony for these two souls to be together for life, in this one and the next and all of their reincarnations to come. Together as the Sidanelv tribe, we witness the soul bonding of these two beings and make history as the tribe welcomes the joining of our own brother, Dohate, with his love, the foreigner and friend that is Alice. Never before have we gone against our old traditions but tonight we can see that love is so great and powerful, it will be decided by no one. And love has brought two spirits from across the ocean together. As the high priestess of the Sidavelv, I ask the spirits of this forest and our ancient ancestors to witness the soul union of these two beings and ask you bind them in all lives to come._

The high priestess shuffled to the Chief of the tribe and received an ancient pipe, Effie noticed how it was the same one Dwayne had given her to smoke from.

 _By accepting this pipe as a symbol of the joining, your lungs shall be filled with the spirit of the forest and the breath you give out shall ascend into the sky where it shall be taken by our ancient ancestors and remain a solidifying and permanent contract between these two spirits and the Gods to have their souls become one forever._

Effie watched as Dwayne, or Dohate, whoever he was, accept the pipe and pass it onto the girl named Alice.

Something inside of Effie broke, tears were streaming down her hot face as she tried to move away from the force that was holding her down to the spot.

She ran as fast as she could to the clearing and the people around her began to evaporate into smoke as she ran through them.

"No, wait!"

She shrieked as she ran towards Dwayne, afraid he was going to disappear too. She was so confused about what she had just witnessed. She needed to get to him and this girl. It appeared Dwayne had heard her this time. Effie drew closer and Dwayne turned towards her, as did the girl named Alice.

Effie froze as she found herself looking at...herself. The girl had turned around and it was like looking in a mirror. Effie took a few more hesitant steps towards Dwayne and reached out for him. Everything else dissolved around them, including the girl, and Effie was left back on the floor in the original part of the forest she was sitting in when she took the pipe.

She snapped out of a trance and looked up at Dwayne who stood looming over her, he had a new look on his face, it was almost full of emotion which Effie had never seen before. Dwayne lifted Effie from the forest floor and hugged her. Effie held him back and whispered in his ear.

"I saw you, I mean, I saw the story you told me about once. Dohate and Alice? What's happening? I feel strange,"

"You saw yourself under the tree?"

Dwaybe whispered back, Effie was confused, did Dwayne not see the girl transforming into Effie as she got closer?

"Not at first, I heard the name Dohate but it looked so much like you so I ran and when I got closer, the girl, she turned to me and it was like looking in a mirror then everything faded away - what's happening?"

"I knew it was you,"

Dwayne said softly. Effie pulled herself back from his grip and looked up at his face. It seemed happy, full of emotion. He was usually so sterile and serious but now he seemed like a different person.

"Me? Please tell me what's happening, Dwayne, I'm actually scared,"

Effie croaked as the night became more confusing that it had began. All she knew was she either really fell off a cliff or had a dream that she did and thought she was dead, next she woke up in the forest to accept some drugs from Dwayne and see a vision of the past, only to come back to reality and have more questions.

Dwayne took both of Effie's hands and took a deep breath.

"The story I told you about Dohate and Alice was the vision you saw, their wedding, the spirit bond. It happened in this very place. Do you believe in reincarnation? It's a belief of my people,"

Effie shook her head in confusion and screwed up her face in deep thought, she never really knew what she believed in when it came to this stuff and now didn't seem the time to be asking her thought provoking questions.

"I think so, maybe? It seems...plausible."

"What did you feel when you saw their wedding, you ran towards them," Dwayne asked.

Effie felt as if she had forgotten everything too soon, she was in deep shock.

"I saw you and I didn't want you to disappear, I've been losing so many people recently and I couldn't lose you too. I guess you mean a lot to me."

"Effie,"

Dwayne said urgently as he looked her in the eyes and squeezed her hand tighter.

"I don't know how to ease you into this. Just trust me when I say that the vision was us, you were Alice in a past life. I had a feeling about you when you came here and when I got to know you I knew it."

Effie looked vacantly at Dwayne, as if she had seen a ghost. She couldn't comprehend what she was hearing. The song that played through her head when she first ever laid eyes on Dwayne sprung back into her mind, Once Upon a Dream from her favourite disney film the sleeping beauty. Dwayne looked worried as he tried to read what Effie was thinking.

 _I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream,_

 _I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam,_

 _Yet I know it's true the visions are seldom all they seem,_

 _But if I know you, I know what you'll do,_

 _You'll love me at once, the way that you did once upon a dream._

"Just tell me this is real,"

Was all Effie managed to say, she didn't know what else there was to say or what to believe.

"It's real, Effie. The vision you saw was us, hundreds of years ago. You were my life, we loved each other."

"And now? What about now, are you the reason I should be in Santa Carla, is this what fate had in mind for me? I've tried for months to find my purpose here and I have to believe you're that purpose?"

Effie blurted out with tears in her eyes.

"And now I love you the same way I did all those years ago. I want you to believe me,"

Dwayne took Effie's face in his hands and kissed her, Effie couldn't resist, she couldn't deny the sexual chemistry they always had. It should have been the perfect moment, like something out of her comics or the fairy tales that she loved, happy someone wanted her and that they were star crossed or whatever, but something still felt wrong.

She pushed away from Dwayne's grip.

"I…" she stuttered, "I can't do this right now, I don't know what's happening to me. Something isn't right,"

Dwayne clenched his jaw together, there were so many lies between them and so many threads to the fabric of the story.

"I would never hurt you, Effie. And I've told you about us and whatever you think right now I love you. So I need to be somewhat honest,"

Dwayne's chance to tell Effe the whole truth about him, Max, the lost boys, Santa Carla, their history with the Frog brother's, the reason behind her night terrors and the deal on her life, was all on the tip of his tongue. And he really did want to tell her. In the beginning it was all a game, but then he realised who she was and he only wanted to lead her to him and not away from him, despite the dangers he had forged for them both.

Effie looked up at him expectantly.

"You were dreaming, you didn't fall off of the cliff, I found you passed out on the boardwalk and brought you here. But you and I, that isn't a dream, that's real."

Dwayne said calmly with a feeling of deep shame inside him that he hadn't felt in decades.

"I need some time, but thank you, I guess you're my saviour. But I need to go,"

Effie said as she lowered her eyes and pulled away from Dwayne. She needed to get home and get her head around what was happening. Dwayne looked bemused and tried to reach for her as she walked away.

"Wait Effie-"

"Please just leave me alone,"

"But we-"

"I know what you said about us, I get it, just give me some time, I can't deal with it now," 

She croaked as she started to cry again and ended up jogging away from Dwayne through the woods and back to her home.


	20. Chapter 20: Changes

Chapter 20 - Changes

 **A few days later**

The nights started bringing in a chill with the wind as Effie sat on the front porch under the crochet blanket her sister had made. Summer was over and the six months they had spent in Santa Carla had been unpredictable, Effie didn't imagine she would be involved with so much drama but the last thing she thought would happen was the new life her twin was embarking upon without her.

Grandpa Emerson's car pulled into the front yard as Sam was driving everyone to a send of dinner for Lottie in town. Lucy sat in the front as Grandpa Emerson sat in the back, no sign of Mike, Effie thought. Lottie came racing out with two big suitcases to put in the trunk of the car, Sam was driving her to the airport that night after dinner. Effie debated her way into going with them, she knew they probably wanted to be alone and have a romantic and emotional last goodbye but not without Effie being there too.

Tracey came toddling out of the house and locked up, she noticed Effie sat on the porch swing still looking moody.

"Chin up, Effie, she'll be back for Christmas. You can handle a few months on your own, Sam's still here as well and the Frog brothers - "

"Edgar and Alan moved out of town mom, I've told you."

Effie snapped as she fought back tears at the idea of everyone leaving her. Tracey sat on the swing next to her daughter as Sam was still fighting to get Lottie's suitcases in the trunk of the car with difficulty.

"I am forgetful these days, sorry sweetheart. Getting prepared for your sister moving has certainly been a task and a half. I know how much Edgar meant to you but you can still call him can't you, or write?"

Tracey suggested as she put an arm around Effie's shoulder, which she accepted. It was rare that she got any physical comforts since she and Edgar had broken up, it had been nearly 2 months now, Effie thought.

"Yeah I can call him,"

Effie said half heartedly as she never explained that Edgar had actually written her a letter on how he had to completely abandon Santa Carla and that there was something evil under the surface; which Effie still hadn't figured out. Tracey noticed her daughter's deflated tone and tried to crack a joke.

"At least money won't be as tight now your sister isn't here running up the phone bill to Sam,"

Tracey laughed, but a little tear escape the corner of her eye as realised how quiet the night time would be without hearing Lottie creep downstairs to use the phone unsolicited whilst everyone was asleep.

"You don't have to worry about money, I got a job,"

Tracey looked taken aback at her daughter, Effie was a strong girl but she was certainly lazy and she had gone the whole time they had been in Santa Carla without lifting a finger for a job. Tracey knew she had struggled with her health in the beginning but there had been some heated conversations over the last few months about Effie pulling her weight financially. Lottie was left off of the hook due to Tracey knowing all along that she would be moving to New Haven on a scholarship, much to Effie's anger.

"That's amazing, Effie! Where are you working?"

Tracey said in a delighted tone as she turned to face her daughter, who still looked defeated.

"Just the arcade in town, nothing fancy, but it's full time and a job's a job at the end of the day,"

Effie said as she shrugged her shoulders, her moment of glory in their mom's eyes soon changed as Lottie announced they were ready to head to dinner. Sam had reserved a table at an Italian near the broadwalk for everyone to have a last goodbye to Lottie. Tracey and Effie crammed themselves into the back of the car as Sam's questionable driving got them to the restaurant.

Effie was sat right next to his Grandpa in the back. She thought he was bat shit crazy and was hoping she wouldn't have to sit next to him but knowing her luck she would end up being just that person and low and behold she was. She rolled her eyes the whole way down to Santa Carla as Grandpa used the opportunity to talk about his weird conspiracy theories.

"Now young lady, people think old Grandpa here is crazy, but I tell you somethin' I've been around, ya'hear? I know things that other people don't because…"

Grandpa paused as he was looking right at Effie, she kept her eyes locked forward on the road ahead hoping that the less eye contact she gave him would make him eventually shut up. Grandpa slowly bought his head closer to Effie's and shouted,

"BECAUSE I LISTEN!"

Effie let out a little scream and rubbed her ear with her hand in an attempt to stop the ringing sound. Grandpa let out a cackle and slapped his hand on his knee.

"That ought to teach ya to respect yer elders,"

Grandpa rasped as he was still cackling, which eventually turned into a coughing fit.

"Dad, calm down now, stop bothering people. This is why we don't take you anywhere,"

Lucy chastised him but with a smile on her face as deep down she appreciated her dad's eccentricities. Luckily at this point they had pulled up to the restaurant.

Everyone was shown to their table inside and as they took a seat Effie wasn't surprised that, yet again, she was sitting next to Grandpa Cuckoo. Grandpa pulled the chair out and patted the seat next to him with a cocky grin on his face. Effie rolled her eyes and sat down.

After the waitress came and took everyone's food orders, and a 10 minute fuss over ingredients in a soup from Grandpa, Sam stood up to address the group and shyly clinked his glass with a fork to get everyone to be quiet, he looked nervous, you could tell he wasn't really one for speeches.

"Evening everyone. I-um- hope everything is good this evening -"

"It would be if that soup didn't have -"

"Grandpa, shush!"

Sam said as he turned bright red and cleared his voice to begin the speech again.

"As I was saying, It's nice to see everyone together at last. It's great that we're all here for Lottie because she's beginning a very special -"

Sam was interrupted yet again but this time it was because Mike had shown up and took a seat quietly at the end of the table. Effie's eyes almost fell out of their sockets as she couldn't believe he had decided to show his face. Lucy gave Mike a small smile and Sam continued.

"A very special chapter in her life. We're all very proud of you, Lottie and I'm sure we all support you 100%. I know I'll be behind you every step of the way."

Lottie's eyes looked as if they were about to let tears fall.

"Thank you, Sam."

She said quietly as she tried to blink the tears away and reached for his hand. Sam smiled and continued with his speech more confidently.

"And as most of us know it's the twins' birthday soon, but unfortunately Lottie won't be here to celebrate with us for her big 19th year. So I'd like to give her my gift now to take with her to Yale and it's very special that everyone we love is here with us tonight to witness it,"

Everyone looked at each other as they wondered what kind of gift could be so important. Effie nearly choked on her coke as Sam got down on one knee in front of everyone and pulled out a small black box from his back pocket.

"I know it's only been 6 months but I love you Lottie. And we have 3 long years ahead of us and I want you to see how much you mean to me no matter how far away you go. So if you make this promise to marry me when all of this is over, you'll make me the happiest person on the planet."

Lottie started letting the tears flow as she nodded furiously to Sam's proposal. He clumsily put the ring on her left hand and they hugged each other tightly as everyone on the table, and eventually around the restaurant, began to clap. Effie shot a glance at Mike who was clapping along slowly with the rest of the crowd, avoiding eye contact. _I can't believe we will basically be in-law_ s. Effie thought.

After everything died down Effie caught Mike slinking away to the front of the restaurant and so she slipped away and followed him, but not without Grandpa noticing, despite the place being packed with people and everyone fussing over the little ring that Sam had given Lottie.

"Don't spend too long on your own in the dark,"

Grandpa sang as he wagged his finger at Effie, she just rolled her eyes again and followed Mike outside the restaurant. He was leaning against a wall and lit up a cigarette.

"Give me one, I think I need it,"

Effie said bluntly. Mike quickly gave her one and offered to light it up, but Effie looked at him with disdain and snatched the lighter away before he could.

"What brings you here anyway, a bit sudden of you, isn't it?"

Effie shot at Mike. She could see his face fall as he realised what he had let himself in for.

"Sam invited me here. Despite what you think of me I'm still his brother. Besides, what about you and Dwayne, and the Frog brother's disappearing, that's a bit sudden, isn't it?"

Mike shot back as he let a grin take over his face, he felt like he had played Effie at her own verbal game for once and he was soaking up the glory. He was even more satisfied when Effie let out a scoff of disbelief.

"The Frog's skipped town for personal reasons. But me and Dwayne? What's he told you."

"Nothing really, I just noticed you've been together a lot recently,"

Mike said nonchalantly, when really he knew everything there was to know about them which made it even more cut throat of a situation to be in. Mike noticed that Effie was looking around suspiciously, she lowered her voice.

"I actually want to talk to you about Dwayne because you know him,"

Mike raised his eyebrows in shock and Effie could kick herself for confiding in Mike but there was no one else left to talk to when it came to this, she was having a moment of weakness.

"He came out of nowhere a few nights ago saying that he loved me. I won't go into details but I basically ran away. It was such a crazy night, I was sleepwalking again and I had a dream that your girlfriend pushed me off of Hudon's Bluff,"

Mike started coughing up smoke as he took a sharp inhale when Effie brought up Star. He was shocked that Dwayne didn't take the opportunity to tell Effie the truth, how long could they keep going without her finding out, it was going better than he thought.

"Anyway…" Effie continued, "I took some time to think and I need to speak to him. Urgently, so, if you see him can you tell him to meet me tonight at midnight at the end of the pier. I'll be waiting."

Mike thought for a moment. _Dwayne was certainly set on going after Effie after all, and not in a malicious way they initially planned. No wonder Dwayne managed to get the Frogs to leave town, it meant he and Effie could have less reasons to cause suspicions. With how vengeful the Frog brothers were, if Edgar found out about Dwayne and Effie, he would certainly go after the tribe again and it would result in Max potentially killing them all. Dwayne had managed to convince Edgar it was for Effie's protection, which it was, but he never mentioned it was also to his benefit. But then what do I do? I'm already in too deep with Dwayne's secrets so what good is it to turn back now?_

"Sure, I'll see him and let him know."

"Thanks, you're being cool for once."

Effie said with the smallest of smiles but she refused to let it show. She threw the butt onto the ground and was about to walk back into the restaurant before she turned to Mike again.

"By the way, your mom said you don't live with them anymore, where do you live now?"

Effie asked curiously, she couldn't let it go.

"Me and Star live out of town, near Hudson's Bluff, in one of those run down projects. Nothing fancy but people don't go up there so we get our privacy, but I sometimes visit home."

Mike hinted with a gleam in his eyes. It seemed to satisfy Effie as she nodded and walked back into the restaurant.

Mike walked around the corner of the restaurant and shook his head as he knew Dwayne would be lurking around, he always was wherever Effie went. Dwayne was stood at the back of the restaurant in the shadows smoking.

"She wants to see you at midnight on the pier. Urgent."

Mike said to Dwayne, almost like he was reporting to his commander. He hated feeling like Dwayne's lackey but he was the newest member of the brotherhood and therefore at the bottom of the pile. However, Dwayne wasn't in Mike's good books after the way he attacked Star.

"I sense your still holding onto the fact I taught your girl a lesson?"

Dwayne asked casually as he could read Mike's thoughts.

"You've completely bruised her face up, is it not enough that you hate her? When will you let it go?"

Mike snarled angrily.

"Let go of what? The fact that she tried to kill Effie or the fact that she turned a vulnerable boy into a halfling just so she had something to pass the time?"

Dwayne spat maliciously.

"Laddie is fine with us, you need to let that go."

"He's fine because I make sure he is!"

Dwayne snapped as she squared up to Mike.

"And as for the fact she could have killed Effie, well, you and I would have both lost something when I ripped Star's throat out with my own teeth,"

Dwayne smirked as Mike pushed him back but Dwayne barely stumbled, he was too strong.

"Choose your battles wisely, Michael. If I go down, you go down too. Oh, and thanks for delivering the message."

Dwayne said as he shrugged his leather jacket back into position on his shoulders and walked off into the chilly night. Mike relented and went back into the restaurant to his so-called family.

After the dinner it soon hit 10pm and Sam was getting ready to take Lottie to the airport, after heart-felt goodbyes, they drove off, with Effie in the back of course. Once they got to the airport drop off, Effie jumped out of the car and embraced her sister before Sam could get there.

"I'm so happy for you, I won't bore you with speeches but keep in touch and look after yourself."

Effie sobbed as Lottie started crying too. Lottie clung to Effie, since they were small Effie had been the one that protected them and stood up to the challenges of life. They had never been apart and all of a sudden the reality of being separated became overwhelming.

"I remember mom saying how I came into the world clinging onto your ankle. And I'm still clinging now,"

Lottie choked as she continued to hold her sister. Effie pulled back and wiped away her twin's tears.

"You have Sam now, and your new adventure. I'm proud."

Effie said as she smiled through her red and blotchy face. Sam managed to get the two big suitcases from the trunk and pull them up the curb.

"Mom mentioned that you got a job at the arcade so we're both growing up," 

Lottie smiled as she rubbed more tears away, then she turned to Sam.

"You look after Effie whilst I'm gone,"

She warned Sam. He smiled a cheeky smile.

"Effie and I are the only one's left by the looks of it, with you and the Frog's gone it will be strange so you can count on it, she's basically family now anyway"

Sam winked as he hugged Lottie, Effie cracked a smile and said her last goodbye's. She left Lottie and Sam to their romantic last moments and jumped into the front of the car and continued crying. Soon the car door opened and Sam slowly climbed in, also with a tear stained face. They were all as bad as each other.

"Let's get home then, just us now,"

Sam smiled weakly as he started the car up and headed back to Santa Carla.

"I'm surprised Mike came tonight, he said you invited him. Do you think you'll get things back on track?"

Effie asked, for once not in a nosey tone but a concerned and heartfelt one, Sam was like her own little brother. Sam chewed at his bottom lip in thought.

"I have no idea, obviously he comes home sometimes but I think that's just the way things are now. So, you don't have to keep hunting him down anymore. Do you think you can put that behind you?"

Effie sighed and let out a laugh.

"Honestly, I spent my whole time here looking for answers and everything around me just crashed and burned. So, yeah, I guess I'll stop now. Things have changed anyway now that our closest friends have gone. Guess we need to find new goals to achieve."

Sam nodded.

"Exactly. It could be good, y'know, having a bit of change. You've got a job now, I'm taking over the comic book store for the Frogs,"

"Woah, I missed that news flash, when was this decided?" 

Effie laughed.

"Yesterday I went down to the store and spoke to his parents about it. I'm sure the Frogs would want it in capable hands so I'm taking it over,"

Sam smiled.

"So we're both working adults. Wow. Yeah, you're right, the game has changed and I need to stop chasing mysteries and focus on the real world,"

Effie exasperated in disbelief. Sam almost melted in relief as Effie renounced her investigation on Mike.

"Why were you so hell bent on it anyway?" 

Sam asked curiously. Effie gave him a look, she wanted to open up. They were close as friends but they never had a chance to truly have a heart to heart since they had known each other. Everything was always Sam focusing on Lottie or Effie focusing on Edgar and Mike so it was strange to feel like she could truly talk to Sam.

"Honestly, Sam. When I moved here I hated it anyway but it was more difficult seeing my sister had found her feet without me. It's like she met you and that was it, her dreams came true and her life was set. Me on the other hand, my mental health, my ups and downs with Edgar, my life was crazy. I guess me trying to help you and Mike became a way of coping with my own emptiness, I thought if I could help you then at least I was useful in some way. I spent so long obsessing over it that before I knew it everything around me was changing and everyone was moving on. It's been so hard,"

Effie said as she found herself crying all over again in front of Sam. Sam looked horrified as he glanced from the view of the road to Effie wondering what to do. He was good at comforting Lottie because he loved her but how did he go about comforting a friend? He never gave the Frogs life advice or hugs so he was out of his depth. He was also shocked at how much Effie had let him in on her feelings, it was a once in a lifetime occurrence.

"I'm so sorry to hear that, I don't know what to say. But, you're right, this change might bring new opportunities. And, Edgar is my friend but there's plenty more fish in the sea. You'll get there, don't be too hard on yourself."

Sam said desperately in an attempt to be reassuring. Effie chuckled at his attempt, his forced tone of understanding made it cute that he was trying. It cheered her up at least. What Sam said about new opportunities struck a chord in Effie as she suddenly remembered about Dwayne. She noticed the time on her watch that she had taken from Lottie, still on her wrist, read 11:17pm.

"Actually Sam, instead of dropping me home can you leave me at the boardwalk? I'll walk back later on, I just want some time to myself."

Sam tensed up.

"On your own at this time of night? You should know Santa Carla by now,"

"Grow up, Sam. Just take me there please?"

Effie begged, Sam let out a sigh as he realised there was no changing her mind. She was too forceful.

At 11:55pm Sam reluctantly dropped Effie off at the boardwalk and she jogged down to the beach. There was another gig tonight down on the beach but Effie didn't know this guy, he was some sort of alternative punk singer singing a song what Effie guessed was called lost in the shadows from the chorus that was being sung. Sam was talking about it just before he had dropped her off, saying how it was the last gig of the season now it was getting into fall and winter.

She moved through the crowd trying to get to the pier on time. It came into view but she couldn't see Dwayne there as she reached the bottom of it. She slowly walked to the top of it trying to bide her time and think about what she would say to Dwayne.

As she reached the end of the pier the music of the concert became a background noise as the ocean's waves took over the sound. It was rough tonight and as Effie stood at the edge she could feel the cold sprays of water speaking onto her skin, it was refreshing. For once she felt peaceful. Her hair was still black from the night she had dyed it to go undercover and had apparently ending up sleepwalking her way to the broadwalk, maybe she never left her bedroom that night before she went out, she thought. Her long black hair was tied loosely at the top of her head in a scrunchie and over the last few weeks she had grown bangs that swept over her forehead, her mom said it looked cute as her hair was still somewhat wavy from her last perm but she scoffed at the idea of being considered cute.

As Effie was lost in thought she didn't hear any footsteps approach from behind her but felt a cold hand on her shoulder, she spun around and looked up at Dwayne. He wasn't wearing a shirt under his leather jacket and she wondered how he wasn't cold. He looked down at her expectantly.

"You wanted to see me urgently,"

He said with a cheeky smile that Effie had never seen before, he had a dimple in one cheek but his eyes were as dark as ever. Effie couldn't help but smile back, she really liked Dwayne and noticed how she had probably being warming up to him every time she had ever met him. But the other night in the woods had hit her hard and she didn't know how to take it but after some thinking she decided on how.

"I've made a decision on us,"

Effie said blunty. Dwayne sat down on a bench as if he was waiting for a presentation to be shown to him but if this was his way of concentrating then Effie was all for it.

"I do believe what you said about us, believe it or not I'm open minded."

Effie started, Dwayne got up to hug her but was interrupted when Effie said

"But-"

Dwayne sat back down.

"But I don't want to be treated like some dead girl. Alice was years ago, I'm Elizabeth now. I don't remember any of our past, only what you showed me the night in the woods. It explains why I've always felt a pull to you, but that's it as far as I'm concerned. I want to be Elizabeth, not Alice. That being said, I want to give us a chance because I do like you. You've done a lot for me and...You're special, you're not like your friends. But all of this 'love' stuff, it's a bit heavy so maybe tone that down. Actually, let's just start from the beginning."

"The beginning?"

Dwayne questioned.

"Yeah, like, going on dates and getting to know each other. I know you probably had this fantasy in your head of me being like 'omg we're soulmates let's be together forever' but honestly that's fairytale shit."

"I thought you said you were open-minded?"

Dwayne smirked as Effie hit him on the shoulder playfully.

"Giving someone like you a chance is!"

Effie shot back as she laughed. Dwayne pretended to look hurt and clutched his chest.

"And what on earth is that supposed to mean, someone like me, the most eligible bachelor in all of Santa Carla,"

"Oh, please, you know how you look. Dressed in leather, tattoos, long shaggy hair, riding around on a motorbike with your gang of brutes. People are wary of you and your friends, only coming out at night. Who knows what you get up to, drinking, drugs, orgies, partying,"

Effie laughed as Dwayne stood up and pulled her closer to him, she squealed in delight at the playful banter as she ended up sitting on his knee on the bench. He locked his arm around her waist and wouldn't let go.

"And what is it you think I get up to, Miss Elizabeth, as you have now proclaimed yourself to be. I thought you went by Effie."

Dwayne jested as he kept his grip on a giggling Effie and whispered into her ear.

"I do, everyone calls me that,"

"Then I'll call you Elizabeth."

He said as he let her out of his clutches and she scrambled away from him with a red face and a pounding heart, she was a little turned on by all of the physical play fighting.

"I hate that,"

She said as she tried to catch her breath,

"Then that's definitely what I'll call you,"

Dwayne smirked as he went to grip Effie into a hug, but Effie put a hand to his chest gently in protest.

"I meant what I said though, I want to be Elizabeth. Not Alice. We're in the present, and those are my conditions if I'm even going to consider going out with a brute like yourself,"

She said on a serious note but then laughing again as Dwayne's eyes glistened when she insulted him again. This time he chased her down the pier before picking her up and spinning her around.

"It's a deal," he said as he was spinning.

"What happened to you being mr. moody and mysterious," Effie laughed as she was still in the air.

"I was sizing you up, can't give everything away all at once. Besides, you seem to bring out my good side,"

Dwayne laughed but thinking to himself how he hadn't seen any of his good side in hundreds of years. He let Effie down and kissed her gently on the lips. Effie kept her eyes closed for a moment as she looked like she was savoring it, to her it felt like forever since she had someone care about her. But then she felt a pang of guilt as a sad look was painted across her face as she remembered the times that Edgar had shown her he cared.

Dwayne knew exactly what she was thinking about and inwardly scoffed at the idea of Edgar still getting in the way of their happiness.

"I know what we can do, the night is still young,"

Dwayne said as he grabbed Effie's hand and started striding down the pier in big steps with Effie jogging to keep up. Then Effie saw Dwayne's bike at the end of the pier on the sand and got excited.

"Are we really going on your bike? I've always wanted to go on one,"

Effie grinned gleefully as Dwayne got on and helped her climb onto the back behind him.

"You have to hold me tight, not that i'll complain. Don't want you falling off,"

Dwayne laughed as he started the bike up and began to rev the engine. Effie was definitely turned on now as she felt the bike spark to life and held onto Dwayne. Some bystanders looked over at them but for once Effie didn't care about being the center of attention, she felt electric.

"It's loud, but it can't be that bad," 

Effie shouted over the engine, but before she knew it Dwayne fully accelerated and they went flying down the beach away from the concert at full speed leaving a trail of sand storm behind them. Dwayne felt Effie dig her nails into the skin of his stomach as she misjudged the force the bike had, which made him smile. She let out a little squeak at the speed they were going, they must have been pushing 60. Effie smiled as she observed the sky and the boardwalk at night speed, for once she felt like she was truly seeing Santa Carla.

After some time they ended up in the woods at the back of Effie's house. Dwayne helped her off of the bike and decided it would be a good idea to sit on the branch of a tree, so he climbed up and lifted Effie up after him, she couldn't believe how strong he was. They sat in the tree looking at the moon, it was almost full but not quite.

"Thanks for that, it's been a while since I've had that much fun. Everyone's moved away so i've been feeling pretty shit,"

Effie yawned as the tiredness kicked in. Dwayne wasn't about to tell her he was the reason that Edgar and Alan had left and that he already knew about her sister.

"Well consider this our first date. One of many and we'll have an amazing time, I promise. You have me here now, nothing's in our way"

Dwayne said as he put an arm around and began to kiss her again.

"Well my birthday's coming up so maybe you could take me out then, my sister won't be around for it and we always spent it together so it would be good to have some fun."

Dwayne smiled as he put a hand underneath her chin,

"I promise you it will be the best birthday you've ever had,"

Effie didn't know how long they were making out or when she went back home and fell asleep in her bed but the next week was easier than she expected now her sister was gone. Dwayne had really cheered her up, she even told Tracey about him. Tracey was just glad to see Effie in high spirits for once.

Effie had spent almost every night with Dwayne talking the small hours away. He made her feel special and she was looking forward to her birthday, they had the best time together. She told him all about her life in England and why her family moved to Santa Carla, the stupid nightmares and the Dracula story she was obsessed with, her love of comics and the film The Never Ending Story. Even the relationship she had with Edgar and the fun times they had as a group of friends, by the end of the week she had told him everything.

The day before her birthday Effie had just got off the phone with her sister which made her even happier, and went out front to collect the mail as she usually did. Tracey went to work at 8 and she was surprised to see Sam coming up her yard as she sat on the front porch, her sister had sent her pictures in the mail of her dorm room and she was sat sifting through them.

"Morning, Sam. What's up?"

She said half heartedly as she sat humming to herself as she continued looking at Lottie's pictures.

"You seem chirpy,"

Sam said in a weird tone. Effie put down the mail and shot him a look.

"Yeah, things have been good but you don't seem too pleased, what's going on,"

She questioned curiously.

"I've seen you hanging around with Dwayne a lot."

"So?" 

"He's bad news,"

Sam said crossing his arms, Effie had never seen him this authoritative and she exhaled sharply and raised her eyebrows at his audacity.

"He's friends with Mike so surely he's no worse than him,"

Effie said defensively. She was wondering when someone would oppose Dwayne as her boyfriend, she thought maybe Mike as Dwayne's friend, but not Sam.

"He is worse than him, Effie the whole lot are. I can't tell you what to do but as a friend I'm warning you, he's no good."

"Well thanks for the warning but I'll see for myself,"

Effie said bitterly as Sam shook his head and walked away. Effie huffed and went back indoors to get ready for her birthday.

The next morning she woke up to a tray left on her bed with a note from her mom. She had made her breakfast in bed but had to shoot off to work. Effie smiled and tucked into her breakfast. Afterwards, she went downstairs to make some coffee and sit in the den, her mom had left her birthday cards on the counter for her to open when she had her morning coffee. Then she decided to ring Lottie and say happy birthday.

By mid morning when she went to take a shower and open her curtains, she noticed a box gift wrapped on her window ledge outside. She wondered how it got up there and opened the window to retrieve it. She read the label, it was from Dwayne. He must have managed to climb up the lattice and put it outside her window, she thought. She sat on her bed and unwrapped the box, it was a golden necklace with a small gold dream catcher dangling from the delicate chain, Effie smiled and put it on. In the bottom of the box was a note.

 _Elizabeth,_

 _Be at The Sea Rose for 9pm tonight._

 _I'll see you there._

 _D_

Effie smiled. She asked Dwayne the other night why they only ever meet at night and he told her he was a motorbike mechanic outside of town so he had long days but his nights were free, which she accepted. She thought it was nice to be going out with a handy man.

That night Effie made sure she looked her best. She put on a red dress that she rarely wore, her mom had bought it for her for a wedding but she did feel good in it. However, the elegance of the dress didn't stop Effie from wearing her Doc Marten boots. She headed down to The Sea Rose and stood outside waiting for Dwayne, she couldn't contain her excitement. She wondered what they would get up to that night.

After 15 minutes passed, Effie decided to go in as the nights were turning cold.

"Good evening, Miss. Do you have a reservation with us?"

A portly older woman chimed roughly attempting to sound feminine.

"Yes, it was 9pm. Sorry I'm a bit late."

The woman hobbled to a stand with a reservation book on it and checked over her glasses at the names.

"And what name is it please, miss?"

"Effie - um- I think Dwayne actually, I didn't reserve the meal my boyfriend did."

The woman nodded and looked at the tables in the dining area.

"Your table is still there, miss. Feel free to sit and wait for your gentleman friend, may I take your, um coat?"

The woman faltered, as she noticed Effie was wearing a leather coat over an exquisite red dress and had to glance twice. Effie nodded and went to her table, she ordered a drink and sat patiently.

Soon the time dragged and she was starting to be upset, Dwayne had promised her a special night and he was almost an hour late. She could see the gruff woman check in on her and see she was still sat alone. After another half an hour passed, the woman hobbled over.

"Miss, we have something for you in the kitchen. I fear if I let it sit there any longer it will go off. I'll fetch it out for you,"

Before Effie could protest the woman raced to the kitchen and Effie slumped back into her chair. Her heart almost came through her chest when she saw a procession of waiting staff with a big birthday cake come out and start singing happy birthday, the gruff woman have a sharp shake of the head and the song died off as they noticed Effie sat alone.

They tentatively placed the cake in front of her with the lit candles and wandered off. Effie noticed the pitiful stares of the people around her and felt anger boil inside as she remembered Sam's words about how Dwayne was no good. She was a fool.

She ripped off the necklace in anger and smashed it into the cake, sending frosting and chunks flying up the window next to her and on her dress and, unfortunately, onto the couple sat near her. She grabbed her bag and ran off out the door, not even bothering to pick up her jacket.

Effie made her way down to the beach before she crumpled down onto the sand and wept.

 **Somewhere in the caves of Hudson's Bluff**

Dwayne and David were sat on jagged rock in an old exquisit hotel suit that was once glorious. Before the hotel sunk it was the best place to stay. Pictures of expensive artworks were torn and broken, parts of furniture were scattered across the cobbled flooring, all that remained was a grand high-backed red chair facing the wall of the cave, which David and Dwayne were facing the back of.

A voice emerged from the chair.

"I just thought I would call in last minute, to see my favourite two boys. I'm sorry if you had an ulterior plans, but we all know how important family is."

The eloquent and mild mannered voice spoke. David and Dwayne shot each other a look of wide-eyed confusion and curiosity, they didn't know why they were summoned.

"I usually pride myself in my family but it appears that things have become somewhat...contorted since my last visit, even more so. With that Frog boy being disposed of I thought everything would appear more intact. But apparently not. I wonder in unannounced and things are a shambles. Michael is nowhere to be seen, Laddie is babbling on about strange things and I noticed our little Star has bruises and cuts all over her face, I almost didn't recognise her. Would anyone care to explain what's going on?"

There was a silence as David looked to Dwayne. David said he would only keep so much quiet for Dwayne but he didn't know if in this moment he could. Before David could speak Dwayne took over.

"I attacked Star. We had another fight over Laddie, he's been inconsolable about it but it's sorted now."

The voice chuckled.

"I'm surprised, Dwayne. The most collected and diplomatic member of our brotherhood attacking his sister? Where are your manners boy?"

"I misplaced them. It won't happen again."

Dwayne said sharply as he tried to contain his rage at Star and the predicament she'd put him in.

"Laddie tells me there was a black-haired girl snooping around the caves one night and that she was arguing with Star."

There was another pause, but much to Dwayne's surprise, David spoke up.

"It was just another junkie getting lost, Star took care of her. I kept tabs on the body, it's definitely gone."

"Such a shame. Star did well to protect the family but she wasted a feeding by getting all catty like these women do, will she ever have any common sense."

The voice sighed.

"It appears our visit is over, I have business to attend to. Goodnight boys,"

"Goodnight Max,"

Dwayne and David chimed together as Max heaved himself out of the chair and looked at the boys.

"I hope you two get things straight with our family, because if you don't, I shall have to replace you,"

He said as his eyes gleamed and blood was dripping down his chin, he disappeared into the cave and left David and Dwayne stood there. They then set about the task of feeding on Max's latest kill and then cleaning up the body for after.

"You need to be careful now, Dwayne. Max is curious, why else would he come unannounced."

Dwayne shrugged but on the inside he knew that if his heart was still working it would be pounding.

"You need to stay away from her until things calm down. I won't hide anything anymore, if Max comes back and finds out I'll kill you myself if i have to."

David threatened menacingly but Dwayne still shrugged him off.

"I'll stay away...for now."

 **END OF BOOK 1**


End file.
